Ouran Host Club Presents: Tangled
by Himizu-chan
Summary: Essentially the movie Tangled, but re-adapted to revolve around our favorite host club. Sweet, romantic, a little funny, full of friendship and self-discovery, and all that. The twins are devils, Kyouya is exasperated with Tamaki, Mori and Honey act awesome, and Tamaki freaks out a lot... But what else is new? Complete!
1. The Lost Princess

**IMPORTANT EDIT!** This is the new improved version, updated 2/23/2012 after I changed one of the characters and edited the story a little bit. Please, if you have read this story before 2/23, make sure you read this chapter again because it is different!

**Tangled: Ouran Host Club Style**

Disclaimer: I don't own Ouran Host Club or any of its characters, nor do I own Tangled or the plot of Tangled or the dialogue of Tangled, but my epic ideas are mine and mine alone, bwa ha ha!

A/N: Yes, this is just what it sounds like. Except with a fair amount of crack behind it. The story had to be tweaked a little to accommodate everyone in the club, but in the end, I think everyone's been represented… fairly. *maniacal laughter* The transcript, and the chapter titles, were taken from (I shit you not) a POTC transcript site. Much love to that person. Since FF doesn't let you post links, review or PM me for the link. Anyways, please enjoy my strange take on TangledxOHC!

Chapter 1: The Lost Princess

The camera pans over a beautiful kingdom before zooming in on a tree in the forest, and onto a Wanted poster tacked to the tree. The poster features none other than the gorgeous blonde Tamaki Suoh. The portrait of the young man is very drab and does not flatter that incredible beauty he is so fond of showcasing. His voice can be heard in the background.

"This…" said in a very melodramatically quiet tone, "…is the story of how I died." Pause, then he resumes speaking in a normal and reassuring tone. "But don't worry, this is a fun story! And *sigh* the truth is, it isn't even mine. This is the story of a beautiful girl called Rapunzel, although she preferred to go by Haruhi. And it starts… with the sun."

The scene suddenly changes to the bright sun, and a drop of sunlight falls through the clouds, landing on a cliff and blossoming into a beautiful glowing golden flower.

"Once upon a time," Tamaki continues, "a single drop of sunlight fell from the heavens, and from this small drop of sun grew a magic… golden… flower."

A wrinkled and hunched-over old crone of a woman limps over to the flower, holding a lantern high. She leans down to touch the flower reverently.

"It had the ability to heal the sick and injured," Tamaki continues. "Oh, you see that old woman over there? You might wanna remember her. She's kind of important."

The scene changed again to a beautiful green hilltop, which is gradually covered with buildings and a large castle, showing the passage of time.

"Centuries passed, and a hop, skip, and a boat ride away, there grew a kingdom. The kingdom was ruled by a beloved king and queen."

An elegantly painted portrait of Haruhi's mother and father is shown for a moment.

"And the queen was about to have a baby. But she got sick. Really sick."

There is a view of Haruhi's pregnant mother lying in bed, attended to by servants and her worried husband. Soon guards and villagers are sailing away from the harbor with torches, searching the kingdom.

"She was running out of time, and that's when people start to look for a miracle. Or in this case, a magic golden flower."

The elderly woman from before can now be seen, carefully kneeling beside a basket that is covering the magic golden flower, lifting it up and touching the exposed petals.

"Ah, see, I told you she'd be important. You see, instead of sharing the sun's gift, this woman, Mother Benibara Gothel, hoarded its healing power and used it to keep herself young for hundreds of years. And all she had to do was sing a special song."

_"Flower gleam a glow, let your power shine, make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine… what once was mine."_ And as Benibara finished the song in her soft gravelly voice, the flower glowed brightly, transforming her into a tall slender young woman with very short brownish-blonde hair, a delicately aristocratic face, and emotional gray-green eyes no longer clouded by age. She pats her smooth unwrinkled face and stands up straight, looking thoroughly pleased with herself. She looks up at the sky, lifts one hand gracefully up towards the heavens, and sings out, "LOBELIAAAAAAAAA!" Her voice is now clear and a little deeper than before. Pleased, she continues to stand on the cliff, singing to herself and enjoying the sound of her own voice.

Tamaki's voice-over continues. "Alright, you get the gist. She sings to it, she turns young. Creepy, right?"

"I heard that, you pig!" Benibara yells. Then she hears voices and she covers the flower with the basket again, but as she runs away, she accidentally knocks the basket off the flower with her lantern. As she hides, the guards spot the glowing flower.

"We found it!" they cheer. They quickly uproot the flower and cart it off, leaving Benibara fuming. The flower is then dropped into a cup of tea and given to the queen.

Tamaki's voice-over continues. "The magic of the golden flower healed the queen. A healthy baby girl, a princess, was born, with beautiful golden hair."

Now there is a shot of the young princess, with lovely glowing golden hair and gigantic brown eyes, being lovingly doted upon by the king and queen. She plays with a mobile with a pretty sun on it and is also given a tiara, which she plays with and tries to eat.

"I'll give you a hint… That's Haruhi. Isn't she just precious?" Tamaki can't help but to coo over her.

The scene changes to the parents standing on the balcony with their daughter. While the queen holds the baby, the king releases a paper lantern into the sky.

"To celebrate her birth, the kind and queen launched a flying lantern into the sky. And for that one moment, everything was perfect."

The lantern is shown floating up into the sky and then a beautiful full moon is shown. Everything is perfect and serene and tranquil.

"And then that moment ended."

Little Haruhi is sleeping in her crib, when the balcony door creaks open. An older-looking Benibara Gothel approaches the crib and touches Haruhi's hair.

_"Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine."_ Haruhi's hair begins to glow and she slowly and carefully selects a strand to cut. _"Make the clock re-"_ She gasps as she cuts the strand, because the moment her scissors sever the lock, it withers and turns brown in her hand. The youthful transformation that had begun while she was singing reverses itself instantly and she is an old woman again.

The king and queen are peacefully sleeping in their bedroom when they hear their daughter crying. They race into her room just in time to see Benibara holding the child and swishing out the door with a mocking laugh.

Tamaki's voice-over resumes again. "Benibara broke into the castle, stole the child, and just like that… gone! The kingdom searched and searched, but they could not find the princess. For deep within the forest, Benibara raised the child as her own."

Deep in the woods, in a hidden tower, Benibara sits brushing the golden hair of the small child in front of her, who sings as the woman brushes her hair.

_"Save what has been lost, bring back what once was mine… what once was mine."_

Benibara takes a deep breath and smiles as she turns into a young woman again.

"Benibara had found her new magic flower, but this time, she was determined to keep it hidden."

"Why can't I go outside?" Haruhi asks in a sweet childish voice.

"The outside world is a dangerous place filled with horrible, selfish people. You must stay here, where you're safe. Do you understand, flower?" Benibara asks gently.

"Yes Beni," Haruhi says, sticking her thumb in her mouth and staring at the fireplace as the fire goes out. The scene changes to the little girl tiptoeing down the stairs to stare out the tower window up at the night sky where she can see many lights rising up into the sky off in the distance.

Tamaki's voice-over continues. "But the walls could not hide everything. Each year, on her birthday, the king and queen released thousands of lanterns into the sky in hope that one day… their lost princess… would return."

The scene changes to the outside of the tower in the daytime. Then a small green chameleon scampers onto the windowsill, hiding behind a flowerpot and blending in with it. Haruhi pushes the window open with a snap, her large brown eyes sparkling with excitement.

"HA!" She looked around for a moment in confusion, then a smirk appears on her face and she begins talking out loud with just a slightly sarcastic inflection to her words. "Well, I guess Pascal's not hiding out here…"

As the chameleon begins to relax, he finds himself ensnared in a curl of her hair and he squeaks in dismay and turns back to green.

"Gotcha!" Haruhi exclaims happily. She unhooks him from her hair and cradles him gently. "That's 22 for me! How about 23 out of 45?"

Pascal glares at her.

"Okay, well, what do you wanna do?"

Pascal looks suddenly hopeful and points with his tail out the window.

"Yeahhhh, I don't think so." Haruhi picks up the tiny chameleon and sits him gently in her lap. "I like it in here, and so do you."

Pascal glares at her and sticks out his tongue.

"Oh come on, Pascal! It's not so bad in here."

She jumps up and starts running across the room, and we can now see that her golden hair is just incredibly insanely long and practically fills the whole room as it trails behind her. She uses her hair to open a roof window and let the sun shine into her little tower. As she scurries around to do chores, Haruhi starts singing (and unlike in the anime, she has an excellent voice right now!).

"_Seven a.m., the usual morning lineup, start on the chores and sweep till the floor's all clean,"_ she sang as she swept some dust into Pascal's face. _"Polish and wax, do laundry and mop and shine up, sweep again and by then it's like 7:15."_

She runs over to a bookshelf, which tragically only has three books on it, and she scoops them all up.

"_And so I'll read a book, or maybe two or three, I'll add a few new paintings to my gallery."_ She can be seen painting on the walls, then doing the other activities as she sings about them. _"I'll play guitar and knit and cook and basically… just wonder when will my life begin?"_

Then she goes over to remove a pie from the oven and sniff it, then walks over to the fireplace, scaling it with her thumb and pulling out a box of paints and starts painting happily.

"_Then after lunch, it's puzzles and darts and baking, paper-mache, a bit of ballet, and chess."_ She can be seen doing all these activities again. _"Pottery and ventriloquism, candle-making. Then I'll stretch, maybe sketch, take a climb, sew a dress!" _

Pascal can be seen wearing a tiny dress with a very grumpy look on his face while Haruhi smiles happily. But as she continues her activities, she begins to look a little weary and disgruntled, suggesting that she really isn't as happy as she claims about being stuck in this tower.

"And I'll reread the books if I have time to spare, I'll paint the walls some more, I'm sure there's room somewhere. And then I'll brush and brush and brush and brush my hair," sang as she takes forever to do exactly that, "Stuck in the same place I've always been…"

She sits up in the rafters next to the ends of her hair and stares out the open roof window, seeing some birds flying across the perfect blue sky. A sad little sigh escapes her lips.

"_And I'll keep wondering and wondering and wondering and wondering… When will my life begin?" _

She jumps down from the rafters, throwing her long hair every which way and then coming to a stop by the window. She begins to sing again, but her voice is now soft and plaintive, practically pleading to some unseen force or deity.

"_Tomorrow night the lights will appear… Just like they do on my birthday each year… What is it like out there where they glow… out there where they glow? Now that I'm older… Beni might just… let me go."_

She approaches the painting over the fireplace, which has the night sky and those beautiful floating lights that appear on her birthday. She slowly paints herself, pink dress, long flowing blonde hair, and all, sitting on a hill watching the lights, away from her tower, finally free. Her lip trembles just a little as she puts the fitting touches on the picture. When she finishes, she falls backwards into a chair and stares longingly up at the painting with a sad little sigh.

A/N: Yes, there it was. The sweet and very non-crack introduction. Sorry about that. But I have promised crack and I will deliver when the boys show up, because lord knows that they spontaneously generate trouble wherever they go… bwahaha!


	2. Beni Knows Best

**IMPORTANT EDIT!** This chapter has also been edited as of 2/23/2012, with a different character and this chapter must be reread if it was read before that date otherwise you will be CONFUSED!

Disclaimer: Still don't own OHC or Tangled!

Chapter 2: Beni Knows Best

A/N: Okay, I have to acknowledge something here… since I changed the character of Gothel to Benibara, it turns out that the whole 'keep Haruhi in the tower' kind of becomes… well, rapey, and quasi-incestuous. I'm sure you all can guess why. But I embraced it, and other than it being a little unsettling if you think about it too hard, it's not particularly off-putting. For example, Haruhi is under no illusions that Benibara is her mother, she knows that she isn't. Anyways, thought I'd throw that out there. Enjoy!

The scene opens, showing Tamaki and the Hitachiin twins sliding down the rooftops of the castle, and then parkouring the shit out of the castle rooftops because parkour is le awesome! They avoid the guards and make it up to a specific tower. Tamaki climbs up to the highest point, staring out over the kingdom. A breeze whips his blonde hair around and his violet eyes glimmer in the reflective sunlight. He nods to the redheaded twins accompanying him.

"Wow! I could get used to a view like this."

"Boss, come on!" Hikaru whines at him as he and Kaoru lift up a trapdoor.

"Hold on… Yep, I'm used to it. Guys, I want a castle!" Tamaki declares, throwing his arms up in the air and tilting his head back to drink in the view properly (and if it just so happens to make him look like some exotic Adonis, well so much the better).

The twins exchange eye rolls and glare at him.

"We do this job, you can buy your own castle," Kaoru points out.

Tamaki favors them with a devastating smile and comes over to the boys, allowing them to lower him into the throne room where Princess Haruhi's tiara sits in a place of honor, waiting for its owner to return. There are several guards nearby, and as Tamaki reaches for the tiara, one of the guards sneezes.

"Ooh! Hay fever?" Tamaki asks him sympathetically, still suspended by a rope from the roof.

"Yeah…" the guard admits with a rueful smile. Then he gets a horrified 'what-the-hell?' look on his face. "Wait!" He spins around and all the other guards turn to look. "Hey, wait!" he shouts.

But Tamaki and the twins are racing across the bridge already, well ahead of their pursuers.

"Can't you picture me in a castle of my own?" Tamaki demands, running a hand through his white-blonde hair as he runs. "Because I certainly can! All the things we've seen, and it's only eight in the morning! Gentlemen, this is a very big day!" he shouts as he fist-pumps and practically leaps through the air, ignoring the rolling eyes of the twins behind him.

The scene changes to the tower out in the woods where Haruhi is putting away her paint supplies.

"This is it!" she squeals. "This is a very big day, Pascal!" She can't help but giggle with excitement. "I'm finally gonna do it! I'm gonna ask her!"

Her head snaps up as she can hear Benibara, calling out in a sing-song voice. "Haruhi! Let down your haaaair!"

"It's time!" Haruhi gasps. Pascal stands at attention in front of her. "I know, I know. Come on." She quickly puts him on the new painting on the wall where he clings, blending in with the paint. "Don't let her see you," she admonishes gently as she covers the painting with a curtain.

"Haruhi?" Benibara calls again. "I'm not getting any younger down here!"

"Coming, Benibara!" Haruhi calls. She wraps her hair around a pulley and sends the entire mass of hair cascading out the window. Benibara loops it and stands on it while Haruhi pulls her up. "Hi!" Haruhi gasps when she finally sees the woman who has raised her, the woman she considers a very dear friend and a loving guardian. "Welcome home, Beni!"

"Oh, Haruhi," Benibara sighs dramatically. "How you manage to do that every single day without fail… It looks exhausting, darling." She steps over and strokes Haruhi's golden hair.

"Oh… heh… It's nothing," Haruhi says with a little shuffling of her feet.

"Then I don't know why it takes so long," Benibara replies, wrapping and arm around Haruhi's shoulder, poking her nose, and laughing her deep throaty laugh. "Darling, I'm just teasing."

Haruhi laughs nervously. "Alright, so, Beni… As you know, tomorrow is a very big day…"

Benibara looks in the mirror, then pulls Haruhi over to her side. "Haruhi, look in that mirror. You know what I see? I see a strong, confident, beautiful young lady… Oh look, you're here too!" She laughs again, squeezing the other girl's shoulders. "I'm just teasing. Stop taking everything so seriously."

Haruhi frowns a little. "Okay, so, Beni, as I was saying, tomorrow is…"

"Haruhi, darling, Benibara is feeling a little run-down. Would you sing for me, dear? Then we'll talk," she says as she checks her hair for signs of gray and her face for evidence of wrinkles. She coughs a little as there is a scratchy quality to her voice, which makes her frown.

"Oh! Of course, Beni!" Haruhi exclaims. She dashes about, putting a chair and a stool in front of the fireplace, shoving a hairbrush into Benibara's hair and quickly sitting them both down in their chairs. Then she starts singing as fast as she can. _"Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine…"_

"Hey! Wait!" Benibara gasps, looking rather flustered.

Haruhi doesn't even try to slow the pace of her singing. _"Make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine, heal what has been hurt, change the fate's design, save what has been lost, bring back what once was mine!"_

As she sings, her hair glows and Benibara quickly runs the brush through it a couple times before the song ends and there is a noise like an electric shock and Benibara suddenly looks a bit younger, although the last dose of magic hadn't completely worn off yet.

"Haruhi!" Benibara scolds. But she can't quite stop herself from smiling when she realizes that her voice has once again taken on the rich booming quality she prizes.

Haruhi doesn't give her a chance to warm up for a lecture. "So, Beni, earlier I was saying tomorrow is a very big day, and you didn't really respond. So I'm just gonna tell you… It's my birthday! Ta-da!"

Benibara blinks, then a small smile appears on her face. "No, no. Can't be. I distinctly remember… Your birthday was last year."

Haruhi giggles. "That's the funny thing about birthdays… they're kind of an annual thing." She leans forward eagerly. "Beni, I'm turning 18, and I wanted to ask… What I really want for this birthday…" She blushes a little and adds in a much lower tone, "actually, what I wanted for quite a few birthdays now…"

"Haruhi," Benibara says impatiently, "please stop with the mumbling, you know how I feel about the mumbling. Blah, blah-blah, blah, blah… It's very annoying. I'm just teasing," she adds, pinching Haruhi's cheek affectionately. "You're adorable. I love you so much, darling." She plants a quick kiss on Haruhi's forehead, then stands up and starts walking across the room.

Pascal peeks out from behind the curtain and waves a claw encouragingly at Haruhi, who quickly steels herself and blurts out, "I want to see the floating lights!"

Benibara pauses as she reaches for an apple. "The… what?"

"Oh… Well, I was hoping you would take me to see the floating lights." She reaches up to the curtain and shows off her newest painting.

"Oh, you mean the stars," Benibara says pleasantly.

"That's the thing…" Haruhi uses her hair to open the window in the roof, shining light on an astronomy mural on the ceiling. "I've charted stars, and they're always constant. But these…" she gestures back to her painting above the fireplace, "they appear every year on my birthday, Beni. ONLY on my birthday. And I can't help but feel… like they're meant for me."

Benibara stiffens just a little, but she manages to look utterly disinterested to Haruhi's eye, and she walks away from Haruhi, clearly not taking her plea seriously.

"I need to see them, Beni!" Haruhi pleads. "And not just from my window… in person! I have to know what they are," she adds in a meek whisper.

Benibara stops and frowns. "You want to go outside? Why, Haruhi…" She reaches out and shuts the window, hiding the paintings in shadow. "Look at you, as fragile as a flower, still a sapling, just a sprout. You know why we stay up in this tower."

"I know, but…"

"That's right, to keep you safe and sound, dear," Benibara says with a sigh. "I promised your dear mother that I would keep you safe, and the best way to do that is to keep you here with me." Then she starts to sing. _"Guess I always knew this day was coming, knew that soon you'd want to leave our nest. Soon, but not yet."_

"But…"

_"Shh! Trust me, pet,"_ Benibara sings, pressing her finger to Haruhi's lips and letting it linger there longer than was strictly necessary. _"Beni… knows best!"_ With that, she pushes the shutters of the window closed and the entire tower is dark. _"Beni knows best, listen to me, lovey, it's a scary world out there."_

Haruhi moves around the tower trying to light candles while Benibara puts them back out and grabbing at Haruhi and her hair to frighten the young girl a little.

_"Beni knows best, one way or another something will go wrong, I swear!" _she sings, catching Haruhi as she trips over her own hair. _"Ruffians, thugs, poison ivy, quicksand, cannibals and snakes, the plague!"_

"No!" yelps Haruhi.

_"Yes. Also large bugs, men with pointy teeth, and stop! No more, you'll just upset me!"_ Benibara throws herself melodramatically onto a chair with a fake sob. _"Darling, I'm here_," she adds, scooping up Haruhi from where she was crouched on the floor. _"Lovey, I'll protect you. Darling, here's what I suggest… Skip those boys with all their noise! Beni knows best!"_

Haruhi continues to try to light up the tower or hide from the terrors of the outside world, but Benibara continues putting out the candles and tormenting the girl with pictures or by grabbing her to frighten her.

_"Beni knows best, take it from me, precious, on your own you won't survive. Sloppy, underdressed, immature, clumsy, please, they'll eat you up alive,"_ she sings, poking and prodding at the girl as she points out her supposed flaws, though still lingering on her a bit too long. _"Gullible, naïve, positively grubby, ditzy and a bit, well, hmmm… vague. Plus, I believe, getting kinda chubby… I'm just sayin', cuz I wuv you,"_ she adds, pinching the girl's cheeks, then giving her a quick peck on the cheek. _"Beni understands. Yes, I'm here to help you. All I have is one request_." She pauses dramatically. "Haruhi?"

"Yes?" Haruhi asks meekly.

Benibara glares sternly down at her. "Don't ever ask to leave this tower again."

Haruhi sighs and looks down at her bare feet. "Yes, Beni."

"Oh, I love you very much, dear."

"I love you more."

"I love you most," Benibara murmurs, embracing the girl and kissing her hair. Then she can't resist offering up one more passing bar of the song as she descends out the window from the tower on Haruhi's hair. _"Don't forget it, you'll regret it… Beni knows best_! Ta-ta! I'll see you in a bit, my flower!" she calls up as she hurries away.

Haruhi waves and stares out the window sadly. "I'll be here…" she mumbles miserably. She unhooks her hair from the pulley and stares longingly out into the woods as her hair flutters a little in the cool breeze.


	3. Meeting Tamaki Suoh

**VERY IMPORTANT MESSAGE!** Hello everyone, I am so bloody sorry that it has been so long since I posted to this story, but I'm back at last! The reason for the delay is that I was randomly inspired to change the identity of a MAJOR character and it does change the story quite a bit, so if you read chapters 1 and 2 before 2/23/2012, PLEASE go back and re-read them! I hope that by changing the character, I have improved the story. Thank you all for your patience, and for all the follows and reviews and such! Now that I have rewritten the entire fic and just need to do some edits, the rest of the fic should be posted relatively quickly.

Disclaimer: Still don't own OHC or Tangled.

Chapter 3: Meeting Tamaki Suoh

Tamaki and the Hitachiin twins continue to run through the forest, pursued by palace guards. As they run, they pass a collection of Wanted posters. Tamaki stops to catch his breath, and he gasps when he sees his own poster.

"Oh no…" He grabs the poster off the tree, staring at it in horror. "No no no no no no no no! This is bad! This is very, very bad! This is REALLY bad!" he yelps in horror. The twins stop and turn to stare at him. "They just can't get my likeness right!" Tamaki whines, holding the poster up. It's a very dull picture, and he holds up a second picture, one that he clearly carries around with him. This picture positively glows, with sparkles and flowers and hearts and glamor abound across the picture. This is the way he wants to be remembered, and seeing a picture of him looking anything less than magnificent clearly pains him worse than a physical wound.

The Hitachiin twins exchange exasperated glances. "Who cares?" they demand as one.

"Well that's easy for you to say!" Tamaki whines. He holds up their posters, showing the two brothers with their arms around each other's waists and looking just a little too affectionate to be brotherly love. "You guys look amazing!" Tamaki whines.

The twins look exasperated and they grab Tamaki's arms and drag him off through the woods. The scene briefly changes to show the pursuing guards, led by Captain Yoshio Ootori. Tamaki slips his own portrait carefully back into his shirt, then carelessly stuffs the poster into his satchel as they run. The fleeing trio finds themselves trapped in front of a tall ledge.

"Oh crap!" Tamaki groans. "All right. Okay. Give me a boost and I'll pull you guys up."

"Give us the satchel first," Hikaru and Kaoru chorus together.

Tamaki clutches the satchel to his chest, looking wounded. "What?! I just… I can't believe after all we've been through together, you don't trust me?" The twins cross their arms and glare at him. "Ouch…" Tamaki sighs, dramatically brushing his hair out of his eyes.

"Give us a break, Boss. We know that as soon as we let you have the satchel, you'll drop it off a cliff or smash it or do something stupid," Hikaru tells him sternly.

Tamaki sighs dramatically and hands the satchel over to Kaoru and the twins lift him up onto the ledge. "Now help us up, boss!" they exclaim. Tamaki reaches down and grabs the satchel from the twins, but it pops open and the tiara starts to roll away.

"Ohcrapohcrapohcrap!" Tamaki yelps, chasing after the loot. The twins' indignant yelps follow him, but he does find the prize eventually. As he runs back, he sees that it's too late and the guards have caught up to the twins and Tamaki has no choice but to try to save his own skin.

Tamaki dashes through the forest, dodging as the guards shoot arrows after him. Captain Yoshio Ootori and his three sons are at the head of the pack. "Retrieve that satchel at any cost!" he yells to the guards.

"Yes sir!" they exclaim.

Then the captain focuses on his three sons. "There may be a special reward if one of you catches him… the king has been asking me to start training my successor."

The three boys exchange looks and they speed up their horses, pulling away from the rest. Tamaki scampers under a fallen tree as arrows stick into said tree and he keeps running, managing to clamber over a second fallen tree. Most of the guard's horses are stopped, but Kyouya manages to scale it, along with his father.

"We've got him now, Kyouya!" Yoshio exclaims.

Tamaki has managed to set up a tripwire with a vine a little ways ahead, and Yoshio and Kyouya are both sent flying. Yoshio lands hard at the foot of a tree, but Kyouya is able to jump to his feet almost instantly and start chasing after Tamaki on foot. Tamaki glances back and see the slim dark-haired boy with glasses in hot pursuit, and damn can that boy run!

"Surrender, thief!" Kyouya yells after the fleeing blonde.

"Ha! Forget it!" Tamaki tosses back over his shoulder.

Kyouya leaps rather dramatically and tackles Tamaki, sending the satchel flying over a nearby cliff, where it catches on a branch of a tree on the cliff edge. The two of them wrestle for a minute before Kyouya worms his way free and begins edging out towards the satchel. Tamaki grabs at him and Kyouya knocks him off the large branch, but inadvertently places him closer to the satchel. Tamaki manages to stretch and grab it, clinging with one hand to a slender branch.

"Ha!" he yelps, waving it around triumphantly. Kyouya leans in to grab it, but Tamaki swings away from him, just out of reach of those slender white hands. Kyouya loses his balance and manages to grab Tamaki's arm, but their combined weight proves to be too much for that fragile branch to handle, and it snaps.

The pair plummets towards the ground, screaming in surprise and horror. Their fall is broken along the way by several tree branches, and they somehow land out of sight of one another. Both are dirty and bruised, but still manage to look very sexy in a rough-and-tumble sort of way. Kyouya pushes himself onto one knee and looks around carefully, head cocked to listen for even the slightest sound.

"Damn…" he whispers. "Who would have thought a mere cat burglar… would be so much trouble…?" he mumbles to himself. Hearing a faint sound, he jumps to his feet and hurries over to the source.

Tamaki hears the young guard coming after him and he presses his back against a wall covered with ivy, except it's not really a wall and there's a cave of some sort behind it. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Tamaki ducks behind the ivy and holds his breath until he hears Kyouya moving away from him.

As Tamaki catches his breath, he decides to see if there's a better place to hide and maybe have a nap while he waits for the coast to be clear further back in the cave. He steps slowly through the cave and is surprised to find there's a light in the back of the cave! Curious, he steps into the light and finds himself in a hidden valley with a small babbling brook and an elegant ivy-covered tower that appears quite deserted. Unable to believe his luck, Tamaki hurries to the tower and sets to work at the painfully-slow task of climbing the wall up to the window at the very top.

After several agonizing minutes, he makes his way inside the dark, and still apparently deserted, tower. He closes the window and leans against it with a sigh of relief. "Alone at last," he gasps, touching the satchel and starting to open it to look at the tiara once again.

WHA-BONKKK!

Tamaki gets a dazed/startled look on his face and his eyes cross for a half-second before they fall closed and he face-plants on the floor. Haruhi is standing behind him, holding a frying pan. She takes a deep breath, then shrieks in alarm and runs across the room. When the young man doesn't move, she cautiously creeps forward to poke him with the handle of the pan, flinching away as though afraid he'll leap up and attack her.

Haruhi looks over at Pascal, who just blinks at her. Then she uses the handle of the pan to move some of the white-blonde hair out of the young man's face. Seeing that he is incredibly good-looking, she pauses and looks a little surprised. She starts to reach out to touch him, but stops and looks at Pascal again. The chameleon gestures to one of the drawings left by Benibara on the floor of a monstrous man with fangs. Haruhi uses the frying pan handle to lift Tamaki's upper lip to reveal perfectly normal teeth.

"Oh…" she whispers. She starts to kneel down and reaches out again to touch the young man's hair or face, but then one violet eye flickers open.

"Huh…?" he mumbles.

With a yelp, Haruhi hits him on the head with the frying pan, knocking him out again. Then she spends several minutes trying to stuff him into a nearby cupboard. She tries to just slide him in, but can't get the leverage to actually lift him. Then she wraps him in her hair and tries to swing him in, but that gets her hair caught in the door. She rests for a moment to contemplate her position while Tamaki is upside-down and spread-eagled at the doorway of the cupboard. She finally shoves the limp body into the closet and seems to succeed, but then the door opens again and the unconscious Tamaki falls onto her as she squeals in shock. Finally she takes a broom handle and uses that to jab him into the cupboard and slams the doors as hard as she can. Unfortunately, she catches his hand in the doorway, and she winces as she gently pokes his fingers back inside the cupboard. Finally she grabs a chair and wedges it against the door handles, preventing the cupboard from being opened again.

"Okay," Haruhi gasps, backing slowly away from the closet and brandishing her frying pan as though she expects to be attacked. "I've got a person… in my closet. I've got a person in my closet…" Suddenly she looks at herself in the mirror and a smile begins to spread over her face and her spine begins to straighten. She starts to look downright triumphant. "I'm got a PERSON in my CLOSET!" she almost cheers.

Pascal blinks at this sudden change in attitude. Haruhi can't help but laugh as she dusts off her frying pan.

"Too weak to handle myself out there, huh, Benibara? Well, tell that to my frying pa…" As she swings it around, she accidentally hits herself with it.

As she shakes her head to clear it, Haruhi spots the discarded satchel on the floor. Curiosity gets the best of her and she walks over to it and pulls out the tiara. She stares blankly for a moment before putting it onto her arm like a bracelet. Pascal shakes his head. She peers through the jewels like a magnifying glass and Pascal shakes his head again. Haruhi stares at the tiara for a moment, then at her reflection in the mirror, holding it first like she's going to try to make in a necklace, then setting it carefully into her golden hair. For an instant, Pascal looks amazed… but then he shakes his head.

Benibara's voice floats up into the tower. "Haruhi! Let down your hair!"

Haruhi quickly drops the tiara back into the satchel, and hides the satchel in a pot before running to the window. "One moment, Beni!" she calls out.

"I have a big surprise!" Benibara calls.

"Uh… I do too!" Haruhi calls, letting her golden locks fall down to Benibara, who climbs aboard.

"I bet my surprise is bigger!" Benibara calls as Haruhi pulls her up.

Haruhi smiles to herself and glances at the blocked closet. "I seriously doubt it," she whispers happily.

"I brought back parsnips!" Benibara declares triumphantly. "I'm going to make hazelnut soup for dinner. Your favorite. Surprise!"

"Well, Beni, there's something I want to tell you," Haruhi begins eagerly, but Benibara interrupts her irritably.

"Oh, Haruhi, you know I hate leaving you after a fight… Especially when I've done absolutely nothing wrong," she adds self-righteously as she places her basket on the table and begins to unpack it.

"Well, I've been thinking a lot about what you said earlier," Haruhi tries again.

"I hope you're not still talking about the stars," Benibara says, still messing with her basket.

"Floating lights," Haruhi corrects her as she walks towards the closet. "And yes, I'm leading up to that…"

"Because I really though we dropped the issue, sweetheart," Benibara continues with just the tiniest edge in her voice, utterly oblivious to Haruhi's movements as her back is turned.

"No, Beni, I'm just saying that you THINK I'm not strong enough to handle myself out there…"

Finally Benibara lifts her head to look at Haruhi. "Oh, I KNOW you're not strong enough to handle yourself out there."

"But if you just…"

"We are done. Talking about this," Benibara says in a tone that is filled with finality.

"Trust me, I know what I'm…"

"Haruhi…"

"Oh, come on," she pleads as she reaches for the chair in front of the closet door to make the big reveal.

"ENOUGH WITH THE LIGHTS!" Benibara bursts out at last. "YOU… ARE NOT… LEAVING THIS TOWER… EVER!"

Haruhi's jaw drops, her brown eyes widen, and tears appear in them as she looks shocked and hurt by the outburst. Her hand falls limply away from the chair without bothering to remove it from the doors.

Benibara puts her hand to her forehead in exasperation and collapses melodramatically onto another chair. "Ugh, great… now I'm the bad guy… I gave up my career on stage to care for the orphaned daughter of one of my dearest friends, and this is the thanks I get…"

Haruhi gazes sadly up at her mural, then finally looks at Benibara. When she speaks, her voice is soft and heavy with sadness. "All I was going to say, Beni, is that… I know what I want for my birthday now." She makes a valiant effort to smile.

"And WHAT is that?" Benibara asks, sounding very stressed and annoyed.

"New paint? The paint made from the white shells you once brought me?" Haruhi asks, a note of pleading in her voice.

"Well that is a VERY long trip, Haruhi," Benibara says, but she sounds distinctly less annoyed now. "Almost three days' time."

"I just thought that is was a better idea than the… stars," Haruhi whispers.

Benibara stares at Haruhi for a moment, then stands up. "You're sure you'll be all right on your own?" she asks finally.

Haruhi approaches slowly, then hugs her. "I know I'm safe as long as I'm here."

Benibara returns the hug and kisses the girl's golden hair. Then Haruhi packed some supplies into Benibara's basket and Benibara put on her cloak. Benibara slide down Haruhi's hair, calling up to her, "I'll be back in three days' time. I love you very much, dear."

Haruhi leans out of the tower to stare down at Benibara. "I love you more," she calls.

"I love you most," Benibara calls back, waving from the cave entrance. Haruhi waves back and Benibara vanishes into the cave and the outside world.

A/N: Yes. I did that. I basically made Kyouya the horse. Bahahahaha! He'd probably strangle me. Actually, he'd just have me killed cuz the Shadow King would never get his hands dirty…


	4. Making a Deal

Chapter 4: Making a Deal

A/N: Sorry there was a delay in posting, I've been really distracted the last few days... I'm being really creative, but not quite in ways I want to be... I keep coming up with new ideas for fanfics, which isn't exactly what I need right now because I really want to start my original OHC piece and finish up a YYH series I'm working on and finish my other big project, but I can't do that when I'm getting a ton of new ideas and getting distracted by them... But anyways... Here is chapter 4. I'll try to be more prompt with the updates since I'm pretty sure this fic is basically done unless I randomly get the urge to go back and edit it again.

Also, thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favorited, or followed this fanfic! Your support means a lot to me!

Disclaimer: I don't own OHC, Tangled, or anything else I might have used that is clearly not mine!

* * *

Haruhi stares outside for a moment longer to make sure that Benibara is really and truly gone. Then she takes a deep breath and slowly approaches the closet, clutching her frying pan. Then she removes the chair, but the doors remain closed.

She takes another deep breath. "Okay…" she whispers, taking several steps back.

Then she flings her hair at the handle and yanks open the closet door. For a long moment there is only silence, and then Tamaki falls forward to land on the floor with a splat that would surely have broken his nose if this weren't an animated movie. Haruhi winces at the sound and waits to see if he'll move or get up, but he doesn't. She tiptoes up to him, but he still doesn't move. She gazes down at him thoughtfully…

Then Haruhi is using her hair to tie Tamaki to a chair and pulling him into a shaft of sunlight. Tamaki's head still lolls forward as he has not managed to regain consciousness yet… We would be worried about damage to his brain, but we all know that dear Tama-chan is an idiot, so his brain cells will be fine.

Pascal sits on Tamaki's shoulder and smacks him once with his claw, quickly turning dark blue to hide on his shirt, but the blow doesn't even make Tamaki stir. Gaining confidence, Pascal slaps him several times with his tail and pokes his neck repeatedly. Tamaki still doesn't stir, so Pascal tries the rather drastic step of sticking his tongue in Tamaki's ear. Tamaki wakes up with a yelp of disgust and tries to rub his ear on his shoulder, sending Pascal flying to the ground.

"Huh?" Tamaki yelps. Then he looks down and sees that he is, in fact, tied to a chair with hair. "Is this…?" He looks around and realizes that the hair is just all over the room… just everywhere. And it's up on the ceiling too, draped over the rafters. "…hair?"

Haruhi is crouched up in the rafters with her frying pan, keeping herself out of sight. She watches as Tamaki struggles to free himself. When she tries to speak, her voice is shaky and nervous. "Struggling… struggling is pointless."

"Huh?" Tamaki asks, finally sitting still and looking around the tower. Haruhi jumps down from the rafters, landing in the shadow where Tamaki still can't see her.

"I know why you're here," Haruhi says, her voice quite a bit braver now, "and I'm not afraid of you."

"What?" Tamaki asks, totally bewildered now.

Haruhi steps into the light now, finally allowing Tamaki to see her for the first time. He gapes openly at her slender figure, long golden hair, and angry brown eyes. "Who are you?" she demands, "and how did you find me?" She lifts the frying pan up to add weight to her words.

Tamaki continues to gape at the girl, completely distracted by her fragile beauty. "Uhhh…"

Haruhi's eyes narrowed and she lifted the frying pan even more, really looking ready to dent Tamaki's skull. "Who are you? And how did you find me?" she repeats angrily.

Tamaki finally finds whatever he has that passes for sense. He lowers his head and stares up at her, violet eyes contrasting beautifully with white-blonde hair. In his softest and most seductive voice, he murmurs, "I know not who you are, my princess, nor how I came to find you. But may I just say… that I am beyond entranced by your perfect beauty. This lonesome tower should not cage such a lovely bird, and clearly it was fate that drew me here to your side."

Haruhi stares at him in confusion. "Wh…What?"

"Princess, you should not hide that face away from the world. You must spread your wings and fly, fly far away from here, with me to protect you and hold you up," Tamaki continues. "For I am Prince Tamaki Suoh and I would never abandon a lady in her time of need!" Somehow sparkles and light and rose petals surround him as he speaks joyfully.

Haruhi stared at him for several moments before shaking herself out of her daze. "Who else knows my location…Tamaki Suoh?" she demands, pointing the frying pan at him.

"Alright, Princess…"

"Haruhi."

"Princess Haruhi… If you must know…I ran into a spot of trouble out there in the forest… I came across your tower, and I…" A look of realization and horror crosses his face. "Oh… oh no… WHERE IS MY SATCHEL?!"

"I've hidden it," Haruhi says triumphantly, crossing her arms. "Someplace where you'll never find it."

Tamaki glances around. "It's in that pot, isn't it?"

Outside of the tower… we hear a certain familiar sound…

WHA-BONKKKK!

Tamaki blinks awake. "Ah… uh… huh?" He sees that Pascal has his tongue in his ear. "AUGH!" Would you stop doing that?" he yelps, rubbing his ear against his shoulder again.

"NOW it's hidden where you'll never find it!" Haruhi declares happily. "So…" She begins to pace around the young man. "What do you want with my hair? To cut it?"

"What?" Tamaki asks, clearly bewildered by the seemingly random change in topic.

"Sell it?" demands Haruhi, pointing the frying pan at him like a sword.

"Nooo! Listen, the only thing I want to do with your hair… is to get out of it! LITERALLY!" he exclaims, trying feebly to lift his arms from the chair, but they're bound too tightly by strands of golden hair.

"You…. Wait, you DON'T want my hair?" Haruhi asks, looking as though such a thought had never occurred to her.

"Why on earth would I want your hair?" Tamaki demands. "Look, I was being chased, I saw a tower, I climbed it. End of story."

"You're… telling the truth?"

"YES!"

Pascal scampers down the length of Haruhi's arm to the edge of the pan. Getting right up in Tamaki's face, he stares at the young man and narrows his eyes. Haruhi pulls back the pan and begins to whisper softly to the chameleon.

"I know, I need someone to take me," she whispers. Pascal squeaks in response. "I think he's telling the truth too…"

Tamaki looks totally bewildered by the fact that she's having a conversation with a reptile.

"He doesn't have fangs. What choice do I have?"

Tamaki takes advantage of this distraction by trying to scoot the chair away from her.

"Okay, Tamaki Suoh…"

Tamaki freezes.

"I'm prepared to offer you a deal," Haruhi continues.

"Deal?" Tamaki asks.

Haruhi spins the chair around by pulling on her hair. "Look this way."

Tamaki yelps in pain as the chair tips over and he is slammed into the ground yet again… This is just not his day.

Haruhi whips the curtain back to show him her picture of the floating lights. "Do you know what these are?"

Tamaki's voice is rather nasally from being face-down on the floor. "You mean the lantern thing they do for the princess?"

Haruhi blinks, then looks triumphant. "Lanterns? I knew they weren't stars!" she whispers excitedly to herself. Then she turns to Tamaki. "Well, tomorrow evening, they will light the night sky with these… lanterns. You," she points at him with the frying pan, "will act as my guide, take me to these lanterns, and return me home safely. THEN, and only then, will I return your satchel to you. That is my deal."

"Yeahhh…" Tamaki says slowly, managing to twist his body and flip his chair to the side so that he's no longer getting his face squashed into the wooden floor. "No can do. Unfortunately, the kingdom and I aren't exactly…er… 'simpatico' at the moment, so I won't be taking you anywhere."

Haruhi glances at Pascal, who hits one clenched claw into the other open one. Haruhi looks back down at Tamaki and pulls on her hair to pull his chair upright. She grabs the back of the chair and leans in close to Tamaki as he backs away from her rage-filled eyes.

"Something brought you here… Tamaki Suoh. Call it what you will… fate, destiny…"

"I was being chased by a palace guard…"

"So I have made the decision to trust you."

"A horrible decision, really," Tamaki admits with a sigh.

"But trust me when I tell you this," Haruhi continued, leaning in even closer, so close that they are practically breathing in each other's breaths. While she is incredibly focused, Tamaki's pupils dilate a bit at the close proximity. "You can tear this tower apart brick by brick, but without my help, you will never find your precious satchel."

Tamaki clears his throat nervously. "Let me get this straight… I take you to see the lanterns, bring you back home, and you'll give me back my satchel."

"I promise," Haruhi says with a shocking intensity. Tamaki lifts a single regal eyebrow. "And when I promise something, I never EVER break that promise. Ever."

Tamaki sighs dramatically. "Alright, my princess… I didn't want to have to do this, but you leave me no choice. Here comes the smolder." He looks up and his violet eyes are suddenly devastatingly intense, as though Haruhi is the only person in the entire universe and he wants nothing more than to be alone with her and undress her and do all manner of unseemly things to her. Romantic music plays and rose petals spontaneously generate around him. Haruhi's eyes narrow and she is utterly unaffected. Tamaki looks a bit puzzled. "This is kind of an off day for me. This doesn't normally happen." He stops the smolder and everything goes back to normal. Tilting his head back in exasperation, he groans out, "Fine, I'll take you to see the lanterns."

"Really?!" Haruhi squeals, letting go of the chair and dropping Tamaki on his face with a thud. "Oops…"

"…You… broke my smolder!" Tamaki whines.

Eventually Haruhi frees Tamaki from her hair and soon he is climbing slowly down the tower wall. "You coming, Princess?" he calls up.

Haruhi stood on the windowsill, her hair in the pulley. She is shaking a little as she stares out at the world outside her tower, the tower she has not left in eighteen years. She takes a deep breath and starts to sing softly.

_"Look at the world so close and I'm halfway to it. Look at it all, so big, do I even dare? Look at me, there at last, I just have to do it!"_ she gasps, looking back at the picture of herself below the floating lights. _"Should I? No. Here I go!"_

Pascal loops some of her hair around his waist and gives her a thumbs-up. Haruhi nods and then jumps, sliding down her hair, plummeting down to the ground, then coming to a dead stop just inches above the ground. For a moment, she's frozen, quite unable to move. Finally she lowers her bare feet to touch the grass, then she falls to her knees in the grass.

_"Just smell the grass, the dirt, just like I dreamed they'd be,"_ she sings, rolling over into the grass to stare at the sky. _"Just feel that summer breeze, the way it's calling me!"_ She stares at a dandelion as the wind scatters its seeds and she starts chasing them, gasping when her feet touch the cold clear waters of the brook. _"For like, the first time ever, I'm completely free!"_ she continues as she tosses water into the air and stares at some bluebirds flying around her. _"I could go running and racing and dancing and chasing and leaping and bounding, hair flying, heart pounding, and plashing and reeling and finally feeling that's when my life begins!"_ As she sings, she races across the clearing and out of the cave, blasting her way through the wall of ivy and jumping for joy in the middle of the forest.

Tamaki finally reaches the ivy wall and stands there for a moment, watching the girl enjoy the forest. He looks a little dazed by her exuberance.

"I can't believe I did this!" Haruhi gasps. Then she looks a little horrified. "I can't believe I did this…" Then she looks ecstatic again. "I CAN'T BELIEVE I DID THIS!" She jumps like an excited child for a moment, then looks terrified again. "Beni would be so furious…"

Tamaki closes his eyes for a moment, realizing that this has 'long day' written all over it.

Haruhi sits down on a rock. "But that's okay. What she doesn't know won't kill her, right?"

Somehow she ends up in a cave, hugging her knees and rocking back and forth.

"Oh my gosh! This would kill her!"

Then she is racing down a hill, kicking a pile of leaves and laughing like a child while Tamaki watches her with his arms crossed.

"THIS IS SOOOOOO FUNNNNN!"

Then she is up in a tall tree, standing with her head against the trunk and her frying pan clutched in one hand.

"I am a horrible and ungrateful girl. I'm going back."

Then she is rolling down a green grassy hill, squealing with joy and getting her long golden hair wrapped around her entire body.

"I AM NEVER GOING BACK! WHEEE!"

Then she is laying face-down in the grass, looking utterly heartbroken.

"I am a despicable human being."

Then she is swinging around a tree, using her hair as a rope, while Tamaki leans against the tree and examines his fingernails.

"BEST… DAY… EVER!"

Finally she is sitting with her back against a giant rock and her face in her hands. Tamaki walks up to her and sits down next to her.

"Ahem," he clears his throat. "You know… I can't help but notice you seem a little at war with yourself here."

"…What?" Haruhi asks.

"Well, I'm only picking up bits and pieces… Overprotective guardian, forbidden road trip… I mean, this is serious stuff. But let me ease your conscience. This is part of growing up. A little rebellion, a little adventure, that's good. Healthy, even." Pascal crawls onto his shoulder and he brushes the chameleon aside.

"You think?" Haruhi asks with a meek smile.

"I know. You're way overthinking this, trust me. Does your guardian deserve it? No. Would this break her heart and crush her soul? Of course. But you've just got to do it."

Haruhi looks horrified. "Break her heart?"

Tamaki casually plucks a small berry from a nearby bush. "In half."

"Crush her soul?" Haruhi whimpers, sounding even more horrified.

Tamaki squeezes the berry until it bursts. "Like a grape."

Haruhi looks like she might explode from all the horror she's feeling. "She would be heartbroken, you're right! My mother trusted her, she'll be so upset that she couldn't keep her promise to my mother!"

"I am, aren't I?" Tamaki asks, sounding just a little smug as he helps her to her feet. "Oh, bother. All right. I can't believe I'm saying this, but… I'm letting you out of the deal."

"What?" Haruhi asks, bewildered.

"Let's turn around and get you home," Tamaki says, picking up the frying pan and Pascal, dropping them into Haruhi's hands. "Here's your pan, here's your frog. I get back my satchel, you get back a mother-daughter relationship built and mutual trust, and voila! We part ways as unlikely friends."

Haruhi shoves him away irritably. "No. I am seeing those lanterns. And hey, whatever happened to all those lines you were spouting earlier about how I should leave the tower and spread my wings and you would never leave my side?"

"Oh give me a break, that's how I charm all the girls!" Tamaki blurted out.

"You're a cad…" Haruhi growls, "but I'm seeing this through, and if you want that satchel back, you have to come with me."

"Oh, come on!" Tamaki exclaims, throwing up his hands in exasperation. "What's it gonna take for me to get my satchel back?"

Haruhi glares and brandishes her frying pan. "I will use this."

There is a rustling in the bushes behind them and Haruhi jumps away and onto Tamaki's back, wrapping her legs and one arm around him, holding the frying pan out in front of both of them with the other arm.

"Is it ruffians?" she yelps. "Thugs? Have they come for me?"

A bunny hops out of the bushes, wrinkling its nose at them.

"Stay calm. They can probably smell fear," Tamaki deadpans.

Haruhi sheepishly untangles herself from Tamaki. "Ohhh… Sorry. Guess I'm just a little jumpy…"

"Probably be best if we avoid ruffians and thugs though," Tamaki says mildly.

Haruhi giggles nervously. "Yeah, that would probably be best."

A shockingly calculating look appears on Tamaki's face. "Are you hungry? I know a great place for lunch!"

"Where?" Haruhi asks eagerly.

Tamaki grabs her frying pan and uses that to pull her along after him. "Oh, don't you worry. You'll know it when you smell it!" And with that, he drags her off into the forest.


	5. The Snuggly Duckling

A/N: Oh my god, I'm so sorry I haven't posted. I started writing a new Ouran Host Club fanfic and then just as that was getting going, I had another one spring into my head and it's basically all I can think about right now... I'm so sorry for the delay and I will try to do better. On the plus side... Little teeney sneak peak of Mori and Honey this chapter! Their role becomes more clear next chapter, but at least in this one I acknowledge they exist!

Disclaimer: Still don't own anything, you should know that by now.

Chapter 5: The Snuggly Duckling

Kyouya sits comfortably against a tree, collecting his thoughts. He's spent quite some time searching for Tamaki Suoh, but so far he's had no luck. He glares disdainfully at a Wanted poster of the blonde thief before pushing himself to his feet and continuing his explorations. Hearing a rustling noise, he conceals himself behind a tree and draws a sword. When a shadow falls near him, he leaps out, blocking the path of… Benibara Gothel.

The woman utters a short cry, then puts her hand to her chest. "Oh! A palace guard! You gave me such a fright!" she gasps, managing to laugh.

Kyouya bows to her. "My most sincere apologies, madam. I thought you were the ruffian I was pursuing."

The woman suddenly looks alarmed. "A ruffian, you say?"

"Yes madam. A thief who stole the princess's crown from the royal palace. He was seen not far from here. Have you seen anyone suspicious?"

The woman shakes her head, then forces a smile. "I will be sure to keep my eyes open," she promised. "Now if you will excuse me…" And with that, she turns and heads back in the direction she'd come at a rather fast pace. Kyouya watches her go with a small frown.

Benibara Gothel runs as fast as she can back to the tower, calling for Haruhi to let down her hair, but the tower remains dark and silent. Benibara runs around the tower and pulls aside some ivy to reveal a hidden doorway that had been blocked off. She hurries up into the tower, climbing in through a hidden trapdoor in the floor. The tower is quite dark, and although Benibara runs around, throwing aside pillows and furniture, it is clear that Haruhi is gone.

As Benibara slows her frantic search, she notices something glittering under a step. She pries up the board and finds a satchel containing the tiara and Tamaki's Wanted poster. Rage appears on her face and she strides to the kitchen, grabbing a knife from the shelf and hurrying back towards the trapdoor.

The scene changes to a path in the forest where Tamaki and Haruhi are walking.

"I know it's around here somewhere," Tamaki insists. "Ahh, there it is!" He moves aside a bush to reveal a small cozy-looking building. "The Snuggly Duckling. Don't worry, it's a very quaint place. Perfect for you. Don't want you scaring and giving up on this endeavor, now do we?" he asks with a disarming smile.

Haruhi manages an innocent smile. "Well… I do like ducklings."

Tamaki claps his hands together in a parody of an excited child. "YAY!" Then he threw open the door. "Garcon, your finest table please!" he calls out.

Haruhi utters a short gasp. The room is crowded with the most evil-looking thugs she's ever seen. All of them appear massive, dirty, and ugly, with weapons and leering expressions on their faces. Haruhi holds her frying pan in front of herself defensively while Tamaki blatantly ignores her discomfort and pushes her inside.

"You smell that? Take a deep breath through the nose! Really let that seep in. What are you getting? To me, it's part man-smell and the other part is really bad man-smell. I don't know why, but overall, it smells like the color brown. Your thoughts?"

Haruhi shrieks, realizing that someone has got hold of her hair, and she runs away, pulling her hair as she goes.

"That's a lot of hair…" one of the thugs mutters as he holds the golden locks.

"She's growing it out," Tamaki says with a knowing smile. "Is that blood in your mustache? Princess, look at all the blood in his mustache! Good sir, that's a lot of blood!" Seeing that Haruhi is too terrified to speak, he can't suppress a smug smile. "You don't look so good, princess. Maybe we should call it a day and get you home. You'd be better off. This is a 5-star joint. If you can't handle this place, maybe you should be back in your tower." He is cut off as the door slams closed in front of them.

They find their path blocked by a very tall and slender young man. He is incredibly good-looking with dark hair and dark eyes, and clinging to his shoulder is a tiny child with golden-brown hair and huge eyes. The dark-haired man leans forward, holding a poster.

"Is this you?" he asks Tamaki.

Tamaki sees the poster of himself and just winces mutely.

"It's him, all right!" the child exclaims happily. "Someone go find some guards! The reward money will be ours!"

At this declaration, pandemonium breaks out as the rogues begin fighting over which of them will be taking some of the reward money. Tamaki finds himself being pulled in several different directions.

"Guys! Hey! Stop! We can work this out!" Tamaki yelps.

"Hey, leave him alone!" Haruhi cries out, forgetting her fear and trying to fight her way in. She starts swinging her frying pan, but it's doing absolutely no good. "Give me back my guide! Ruffians!" she yelps.

The dark-haired man suddenly grabs her and pulls her back, just in time to keep her from getting hit by a flying club. She stares up at him in unabashed surprise.

"What are you doing?" she asks him.

"It's not safe," he says simply.

"But I need to help him!" she argues.

"Takashi is right," the child pipes up. "We'll make them listen, don't worry." Then the child sticks two fingers in his mouth and whistles. "HEY! Pay attention you guys! The lady has something to say!" he yells, surprisingly loudly for a child so small.

Everyone is instantly still and silent. They all stare at Haruhi and the two ruffians next to her.

"They'll listen to you now," the child says cheerfully.

"Okay… well… Thanks," she says shyly. Then she clears her throat. "Now listen! I don't know where I am, and I need him to take me to see the lanterns because I've been dreaming about them my entire life! Find your humanity! Haven't any of you ever had a dream?" she begs.

A gigantic ruffian with a hook for a hand pulls out a giant battleax and begins to approach her. Haruhi gulps and instinctively steps closer to the two ruffians who seem to have appointed themselves her protectors. The tall one doesn't move though, so Haruhi feels surprisingly confident as the man with the hook looms over her.

"I had a dream once," he says, and then throws the axe towards a musician who is chained by the ankle to a wall. The man starts to play while the other ruffians hang Tamaki by his vest to a hook in the wall. The blonde thief is utterly stunned.

Then the hook-handed man begins to sing._ "I'm malicious, mean and scary, my sneer could curdle dairy, and violence-wise my hands are not the cleanest. But despite my evil look and my temper and my hook, I've always yearned to be a concert pianist."_ He sits down at a piano and begins to play, and the music is excellent! _"Can't you see me on the stage performing Mozart? Tickling the ivories till they gleam… Yep, I'd rather be called deadly for my killer show-tune medley, cuz way down deep inside, I've got a dream!"_

Soon all the ruffians are singing, _"He's got a dream! He's got a dream!"_

_"See, I ain't so cruel and vicious as I seem, though I do like breaking femurs, you can count me with the dreamers, like everybody else I've got a dream,"_ the hook-hand man continues.

Outside, Benibara is approaching the tavern, listening to the music in bewilderment.

Another particularly ugly thug with a very large nose starts to sing. _"I've got scars and lumps and bruises, plus something here that oozes, and let's not even mention my complexion. But despite my extra toes and my goiter and my nose, I really want to make a love connection."_ He bows to Haruhi and presents her with a small flower, eliciting a small blush from the girl. Tamaki frowns when he sees this. _"Can't you see me a special little lady… rowing in a rowboat down the steam? Though I'm one disgusting blighter, I'm a lover, not a fighter, cuz way down deep inside, I've got a dream! I've got a dream!"_

_"He's got a dream!"_ the other thugs sing.

_"I've got a dream!"_

_ "He's got a dream!"_

_"And I know that one day, romance will reign supreme. Though my face leaves people screaming, there's a child behind it dreaming. Like everybody else, I've got a dream." _

The big-nosed thug throws his arms around the dark-haired man and Haruhi. Then he begins pointing to other thugs and singing about their dreams while they pose and demonstrate their hidden talents.

"_Thor would like to quit and be a florist. Gunther does interior design. Ulf is into mime, Attila's cupcakes are sublime, Bruiser knits, Killer sews, Fang does little puppet shows!"_

"_And Vladamir collects ceramic unicorns!"_ adds the man with the hook for a hand. Then they all glare at Tamaki. "What's your dream?"

"I'm sorry, me?" Tamaki asks.

The thug with the big nose unhooks Tamaki and sets him down. "What's your dream?"

"Oh no. No. Sorry boys, I don't sing." He barely has time to strike an unmoving pose before weapons are pointed at him, so he starts to do a little dance and sings nervously. _"I have dreams like you, no really! Just much less… touchy-feely. They mainly happen somewhere warm and sunny… On an island that I own, tanned and rested and alone, surrounded by enormous piles of money!"_

The thugs cheer and Haruhi finds herself standing on the bar. _"I've got a dream," _she sings.

"_She's got a dream!"_

"_I've got a dream!"_

"_She's got a dream!"_

"_I just want to see the floating lanterns gleam. And with every passing hour, I'm so glad I left my tower. Like all you lovely folks, I've got a dream!"_

Everyone is so busy singing that no one notices Benibara staring in the window with a stunned, yet faintly murderous expression on her face.

"_She's got a dream! He's got a dream! They've got a dream! We've got a dream! So our differences ain't really that extreme! We're one big team!"_ the thugs sing happily, swigging mugs of beer and toasting everyone in sight. _"Call us brutal, sick, sadistic, and grotesquely optimistic, cuz way down deep inside, we've got a dream! I've got a dream! I've got a dream! Yes, way down deep inside, we've got a dream! Yeah!"_


	6. The Great Escape

A/N: Okay, this chapter starts to get really fun with that epic fight scene and all. Twins being awesome, Kyouya being awesome, Mori being awesome... everyone is awesome! Lots of fun! Please enjoy! Drop me a review and remind me to update!

Disclaimer: I don't own Ouran Host Club or Tangled.

Chapter 6: The Escape

Just as it seems that everything was peacefully resolved, everyone worn out and happy from all the singing, Greno bursts into the bar. "I found the guards!" he cries triumphantly.

Everyone seems to freeze as they recall that they did in fact want to hand Tamaki over to the guards just a few minutes ago. Captain Yoshio Ootori strides in.

"Where's Suoh? Where is he?" he demands. "I know he's in here somewhere. Find him! Turn the place upside-down if you have to!" He slams his fist down on a table, and we can see Haruhi and Tamaki huddled there, eyes wide with surprise and fear.

Then the situation gets worse as the Hitachiin twins are led in, their hands cuffed behind their backs. Then Haruhi feels a tap on her shoulder, and the small child is standing there. "Come with me," he whispers.

The pair crawl after him to where the dark-haired man is crouched next to a trap door.

"Are you… helping us hide?" Haruhi gasps.

"Escape actually," the child says. "Follow us." And with that, he jumps down into the cellar and leads the way down the passageway. Haruhi and Tamaki follow while the dark-haired man shuts the trapdoor and brings up the rear. Above them, they can hear the other thugs trying to distract the guards.

"Sir, I believe this is the man you're looking for," one of them says, dragging out a tiny old man with a long white beard.

"You got me!" the old man sighs, holding out his hands resignedly. His very red nose indicates he might be somewhat intoxicated.

Captain Yoshio Ootori claps a hand to his forehead in exasperation. Then he looks at his older two sons, who are deeply engaged in searching for the missing thief. Then the door bursts open and Kyouya is standing in the doorway.

"Kyouya! You're alive!" the Captain gasps, remembering that moment of horror when he'd seen his youngest son fall off a cliff, still engaged in a struggle with the blonde thief.

"Of course I'm alive," Kyouya says, as though this should have been a forgone conclusion. Then he moves into the bar and peers under the table where Haruhi and Tamaki had been hiding just a few minutes ago. He frowns at the floor, then suddenly turns around and goes behind the bar. It takes him only seconds to find the lever to open the trapdoor and the secret passageway.

"A passage! Good work son!" Yoshio Ootori exclaimed, clapping the young man's shoulder. "Come on men, let's go! Make sure those boys don't get away," he calls over his shoulder to one of the guards, who hefts a spear and glares at the identical twin prisoners. They just exchange identical amused smirks before turning their attention to disarming the unfortunate guard, removing their handcuffs, and dashing down into the passageway.

Benibara stares through the window as everything happens, eyes narrowed. Then the small drunk old man totters outside, singing drunkenly.

_"I got a dream… I got some dreams…"_ Then he spots Benibara. "Ohhhh, somebody get me a glass! Because I just found me a tall drink of water…" He leans against the doorway in what he obviously thinks is a seductive pose.

Benibara giggles innocently. "Oh stop it, you big lug." Then she pulls out her knife, sticking it right in the poor man's face. "Where does that tunnel let out?" she hisses as the man goes cross-eyed trying to stare at the blade touching the tip of his nose.

Down in the tunnel, Haruhi is thanking the dark-haired man and the child profusely. "Seriously, you guys did not have to do this!" she exclaims.

"We know, but we wanted to help," the child says. "What's your name?"

"I'm Haruhi," she says, trying not to trip over her hair as she runs.

"I'm Mitsukuni. Mitsukuni Haninozuka, but you can call me Honey. And that's my cousin, Takashi. Takashi Morinozuka, but you can call him Mori."

Haruhi glances doubtfully back at the dark-haired man, but he just glances down at her and somehow she knows that Honey is right that he doesn't mind the nickname.

"Well, it's nice to meet you both. That's Tamaki Suoh. I don't really know him very well, but we're traveling together, so… ya know."

Honey nods. "We like your dream. It's good to have dreams."

"How did you two end up in such a rough place?"

"Our fathers are in charge of the biggest gang of bandits in the land. They all know better than to mess with us because someday we'll be in charge of them," Honey says proudly. "Although to be honest, we're a lot more interested in our martial arts. I know Takashi would be perfectly happy just teaching at a dojo. I'd like that too, actually. We could teach so many fun classes!"

Haruhi can only stare at them, unable to reconcile the sweet and innocent child and the quiet and protective older man at his side. "You're serious? But aren't you…?"

Honey laughs. "I'm older than Mori, but I look a lot younger," he says with a sweet grin, little pink flowers appearing around his head as he talks.

Haruhi can't speak and she forgets to keep running, and nearly trips over her hair, but Mori reaches down to steady her and she feels shockingly safe next to these two young thugs.

They walk along quickly for several more minutes. Honey and Mori end up a little ways ahead while Haruhi and Tamaki stroll along behind.

"I gotta say," Tamaki says at last, "I didn't know you had that in you back there. That was pretty… impressive."

Haruhi can't stop herself from blushing at the rare praise. "I know!" she gasps excitedly. Then she quickly composes herself. "I know," she says in a more offhand tone. "Sooo… Tamaki… I just realized I really DON'T know much about you… Where are you from?"

"Whoa, whoa, sorry Princess, I don't do backstory. However, I am becoming very interested in yours… Now, I know I'm not supposed to mention the hair…"

"Nope."

"Or the guardian…"

"Uh-uh."

"Frankly, I'm too scared to ask about the frog…"

"Chameleon," Haruhi says, patting Pascal on the head. Somehow he's managed to remain on her shoulder for their entire adventure.

"Nuance. Here's my question though: if you want to see the lanterns so badly, why haven't you gone before?"

Haruhi turns scarlet. "Ah… ha ha… well…" Before she can answer, they both hear thudding noises and rocks being to vibrate around them. "Tamaki?" she gasps nervously. They turn and see a light appearing behind them.

SUOH!" the guards shout.

"RUN!" Tamaki yells, pushing Haruhi ahead of him. Haruhi bunches up as much of her hair as she can and runs. Mori and Honey hear them and also take off running. The foursome burst out at a dam with several caves nearby. The Hitachiin twins appear at one of them and they glare up at Tamaki.

"Who are they?" Haruhi yelps.

"Let's just say they don't like me," Tamaki suggests, brushing back his white-blonde hair.

"Who are they?" Haruhi demands, pointing at the guards as they appear behind them.

"They don't like me either," Tamaki says with a sigh.

Then Kyouya appears from a different direction (who knows why?).

"Who's THAT?" Haruhi exclaims.

"Let's just assume for a moment that everyone here doesn't like me," Tamaki groans.

Haruhi drops her pile of hair and hands her frying pan over to Tamaki. "Here." Then she flings her hair toward a piece of wood across the chasm and lands on an empty ledge. Tamaki turns just in time to block the sword of Captain Ootori with the frying pan.

"I've waited a long time for this," the captain says, swinging his sword again. Tamaki swings the pan again and manages to knock the captain right out. The two oldest Ootori sons attack next, and Tamaki manages to fight both of them off. Mori scoops up Honey onto his shoulder and grabs one of the dropped swords to help Tamaki fight off the guards.

Tamaki stares at the frying pan in surprise and disbelief. "Ohhh mama, I have got to get me one of these!" he exclaims in delight. Then he looks up to see that Kyouya has managed to climb up onto the ledge and has drawn his sword. "Shit…" he hisses under his breath, facing off against the young guard.

The pair begin to fight, but it's soon obvious that Tamaki is hopelessly outmatched by the well-trained Kyouya. Haruhi swings her hair over the gorge to rescue Mori and Honey just as Tamaki is disarmed and the frying pan flies off the ledge, landing with a clatter on the ground below.

"How about two out of three?" he asks meekly, raising his hands in something resembling surrender. Kyouya cannot suppress a triumphant smirk and he pulls out handcuffs (kinky bastard!), but before he can do anything with them, Haruhi is flinging her hair across the chasm again.

"Tamaki!" she calls out. He reaches back and just manages to grab a hold of her hair. He flashes a peace sign at Kyouya before he is yanked off the ledge by Haruhi and Mori both pulling on the golden locks. Kyouya actually drops the handcuffs in surprise.

As Tamaki swings, he finds himself in the path of the Hitachiin twins, who look pissed.

"You left us there to be caught, you clumsy oaf!" Hikaru yells at him.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Kaoru adds.

They both swing swords of their own, but they miss. Tamaki can't help but laugh. "Ha! You should see your faces because you look…" He is cut off with a WHAMM as his stomach hits a jutting pole and all the wind is knocked out of him. "…ridiculous…" he manages to gasp out.

Kyouya has recovered from his shock and seized a battleax, and is now using that to hit a pole so that he can make a bridge to cross to Haruhi, Mori, and Honey. He manages this, but some of the water behind the dam begins to leak out.

"Princess, come on!" Tamaki calls. She turns to Mori and Honey first, but Mori is already climbing up a ledge, with Honey clinging to his shoulder again.

"We'll be fine, Haru-chan!" Honey calls. "Hurry up, that water sounds pretty bad!"

"Jump!" Tamaki yells to her.

Seeing that Kyouya is almost upon her, Haruhi leaps blindly off the ledge. Kyouya's fingers grasp at the air mere inches from her hair. With Tamaki holding her hair, she manages to land safely on the ground, and then she bunches up her hair and starts running as the Hitachiin twins pursue her. Meanwhile Tamaki jumps into a narrow channel of water and starts grinding down even as the water behind the dam begins to roar at a mad crescendo.

The dam finally bursts, and a massive tidal wave begins to fill the gorge, sweeping away Kyouya and the other guards, as well as the Hitachiin twins. Tamaki grabs the frying pan from the ground and then grabs Haruhi's hand as they run from a falling rock pillar. Seeking shelter, they dash into a nearby cave and the pillar blocks them from getting back out, but the entrance is not sealed enough to stop the water from getting in too.

Desperately, the pair begins searching for another way out of the cave as the water fills it. Haruhi scrambles onto a rock that is high enough for her to keep her head above water while Tamaki dives desperately again and again. Both of them push and shove at all the rocks they can reach, but there is no way out and they're completely trapped. As Tamaki shoves at a boulder, the rock slices his hand open and he yelps in pain. Then he shakes his head in frustration.

"It's no use," Tamaki gasps at last. "I can't see anything." Frantic with terror, Haruhi dives in herself, but Tamaki catches her around the waist and pulls her back above the water. "Hey! There's no point. It's pitch-black down there."

Haruhi bursts into tears. "This is all my fault. She was right. I never should have done this. I'm… I'm so sorry, Tamaki."

Tamaki puts his arm around her and holds her gently. "I always pictured myself going out in a blaze of glory, but at least I can go out trying to comfort a beautiful young woman instead. I always… I always assumed that I would die alone," he adds sadly. "Do you have any deep dark secrets you want to confess so I don't feel so alone?"

Haruhi blinks. "Well… I have magic hair that glows when I sing."

Tamaki stares at her. "What?"

Haruhi gasps in realization. "I have… magic hair… that glows when I sing!" With a yelp of triumph she starts to sing as fast as she can as the water rises up to meet their heads. _"Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine…"_

But it seems to be too late, the water has reached the ceiling of the cave and they fall underwater… And then her hair begins to glow! The whole cavern is suddenly bathed in a gentle golden light. Tamaki's mouth drops open, but he claps it closed quickly and dives down towards the bottom of the cave. Spotting several rocks that look loose, he begins digging, pulling them aside desperately, even as the glow fades away and leaving them in darkness once again.


	7. In the Woods

A/N: Random quick note before this chapter starts, I just posted a new OHC one-shot based off the Pink song Blow Me One Last Kiss, and I would really love to get some feedback on that! Shameless plug, I know. Anyways, enjoy this chapter, please review, etc.!

Disclaimer: I don't own OHC or Tangled.

Chapter 7: In the Woods

Tamaki and Haruhi tumble out of their new hole into a river and they scramble to the bank, gasping for breath and coughing.

"We… we made it!" Haruhi gasps.

Tamaki looks stunned. "Her hair glows…" he mutters to no one in particular.

"We're alive!" Haruhi yelps. She pulls herself onto shore and runs into the trees. "I'm alive!"

"I didn't see that coming…" Tamaki mutters, running his fingers through his hair.

"Tamaki?" Haruhi calls.

"Her hair actually glows!" Tamaki exclaims to Pascal, who looks exasperated.

"Tamaki!" Haruhi calls again.

"WHY GOES HER HAIR GLOW?!" Tamaki yelps.

"TAMAKI!" Haruhi exclaims.

"WHAT?!" he yells back.

Haruhi walks slowly back towards him, pulling the rest of her thick golden hair out of the water. "It doesn't just glow…"

Tamaki glances down at Pascal, who definitely has something resembling a smile on his face. "Why is he smiling at me?" he asks in a plaintive whine.

Meanwhile, somewhere else in the forest…

Benibara Gothel conceals herself behind a tree near a trapdoor with a duck drawn on it. Hearing banging and coughing noises, she draws her dagger and moves closer. But when the door opens, it isn't Tamaki and Haruhi as she expected; it is the Hitachiin twins, coughing and gasping.

"That unbelievable dumbass! Is he TRYING to get us killed?" Hikaru yelps. "Now I'd give absolutely anything to wring his neck."

"We owe him several beatings at this point… first he got us arrested because he's a clumsy idiot, now he nearly drowns us, and this isn't even counting all the times he's been a completely insufferable womanizing moron," Kaoru agrees.

"Let's go get him!" Hikaru exclaims.

"Yeah, we'll cut him off at the kingdom and get back the crown," Kaoru says with a nod.

"Oh boyyyyysss!" Benibara calls in a honey-filled voice. They both turn to stare at the woman. "Perhaps you want to stop acting like wild dogs chasing their tails and THINK for a moment!" She holds up the satchel that they recognize as the one they'd had before, the one that had held the stolen tiara. The Hitachiin twins gasp, then draw their swords. Benibara smirks. "Oh please, there's no need for that."

Benibara tosses the satchel to them, and they dive for it, quickly opening it and finding the tiara inside. They stare at her in surprise, then start cautiously moving away from her.

"Well, if that's all you desire, then be on your way," Benibara proclaims. "I was going to offer you something worth 1000 crowns, something that would have made you rich beyond belief, and that wasn't even the best part," she says with a laugh. "Oh well, c'est la vie." She waves them off and turns to walk away. "Enjoy your crown."

The twins look at each other, then back at Benibara. "What's the best part?" they ask in unison.

Benibara pulls out Tamaki's Wanted poster. "It comes with your revenge on Tamaki Suoh."

The twins grin at each other and turn back to her. "We're listening."

Standing on a cliff far above the gorge, Mori and Honey look down at the raging water. There is no sign of any living soul down there. But the current flows quickly, and it seems very likely that the guards and everyone else down there has been swept away.

"You think Haru-chan and Tama-chan are okay?" Honey asks, staring down nervously at the rapidly-flowing water.

"Yeah," Mori says calmly. Then he turns and starts walking off down into the woods.

In another place in the dark woods, Haruhi and Tamaki sit next to a gently crackling fire. Haruhi wraps a few strands of her hair around Tamaki's injured hand.

Tamaki frowns at Haruhi. "So… you're being strangely cryptic as you wrap your magic hair around my injured hand… Ow!"

Haruhi winces at his pain. "Sorry…" Then she sighs. "Just… don't… don't freak out," she pleads.

Tamaki glances down at his hand, then he fixes his violet eyes on her soft brown ones and nods for her to go ahead. Haruhi closes her eyes and clasps his hand gently between hers and starts to sing.

"_Flower, gleam and glow, let your power shine, make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine, heal what has been hurt, change the Fate's design, save what has been lost, bring back what once was mine, what once was mine."_ As she sings, her hair begins to glow and Tamaki can only stare in stunned silence while Pascal watches smugly next to her. As the song ends, Haruhi's hair stops glowing and she looks up at Tamaki with gigantic frightened eyes as she awaits his reaction.

Tamaki slowly unwraps her hair from his hand and sees that the deep gash in his hand has been healed completely, without leaving a single mark or scar to show that it had ever been there. "Ohhh… oh my god… Ahhh…"

"Please don't freak out!" Haruhi begs desperately, biting her lip.

Tamaki's face freezes mid-scream. His mouth opens and closes a little as Haruhi continues to look at him desperately. "Aaahhh I'm not freaking out! Are you freaking out?! Aahhh, I'm just interested in your hair and the magical qualities that it possesses. How long has it been doing that exactly?" He crosses his arms and tilts his head, trying to look calm and innocent.

Haruhi smiled meekly. "Uh… forever? I guess?" Then her expression became serious. "Benibara says when I was a baby, people tried to cut it. They wanted to take it for themselves. But once it's cut, it turns brown and loses its power." She lifts her hair back, revealing a small brown lock buried deep under the rest of her hair. "A gift like that… it has to be protected. That's why Beni never let me…" She bit her tongue and shook her head. "That's why I never left and…" She stops speaking altogether and wraps her arms around her knees, unable to meet Tamaki's eyes.

"You never left that tower…" Tamaki gasps in realization. She looks up at him with a tiny smile, relieved that he finally understands. "And you're still going to go back?" Tamaki asks incredulously.

"No," Haruhi says forcefully. Then her resolve falls away. "Yes…" Then she puts her face into her hands and sighs. "It's… complicated."

Pascal nuzzles against her foot comfortingly. Then she pulls her hair away from her face and tries to smile at him.

"So… tell me something more about yourself, now that you know all my deep dark secrets," she says shyly, trying very obviously to change the subject.

Tamaki tilts his head back and smiles endearingly at her. "Well, I'll spare you the sob story of poor orphan Tamaki Suoh. It's a little bit of a downer." Haruhi scoots closer to him on the log, looking interested. "There was this book I used to read every night to the younger kids… The Tales of Flynnigan Rider. Swashbuckling rouge, richest man alive, not bad with the ladies either. Not that he'd brag about it, of course."

"Was he a thief too?" Haruhi asks.

Tamaki looks a little embarrassed. "Um… well, no. He had enough money to do anything that he wanted to do. He could go anywhere that he wanted to go. And…and for a kid…with nothing… I don't know. It… just seemed like the better option. You can't tell anyone about this, okay? It could ruin my whole reputation," he adds with a smirk.

"Ah. Of course. We wouldn't want that," Haruhi mutters, sounding both amused and annoyed.

"Well, a fake reputation is all a man has," Tamaki tells her with a grin. Haruhi manages a wry chuckle and Tamaki stands up and starts to walk into the forest. "I… I should… I should get more firewood."

He starts to walk away, but Haruhi grabs his hand. He freezes and stares back at her. "Tamaki… I'm glad you're with me," she says softly.

"You'd be the first…" Tamaki says with a sad sort of smile. "But thank you. I'm glad to be helping you."

She smiles at him and he turns and walks into the woods. He's been gone for only a few moments when Haruhi hears a voice behind her.

"Well! I thought he'd never leave!" Benibara exclaims.

Haruhi whirls around in shock. "Beni?!"

"Hello dear," she says pleasantly.

Haruhi gapes wordlessly for a moment. "I… I did… how did you find me?"

Benibara hugs her and strokes her hair. "Oh, it was easy, really. I just listened for the sound of complete and utter betrayal and followed that."

"Beni…"

Benibara pulls her towards the woods. "We're going home now."

"You don't understand! I've been on this incredible journey, and I've seen and learned so much. I… I even met someone!" she adds breathlessly.

"Yes, the wanted thief… Your poor mother would be so proud," Benibara says sarcastically. "Come on, Haruhi."

"Beni, wait. I think… I think he likes me!" Haruhi gasps, so hopeful and eager.

"Likes you? Please, Haruhi, that's demented!"

"But Beni, I…"

"This is why you never should have left. Dear, this whole romance that you've invented just proves you're too naïve to be here. Why would he like you? Come on, now really." She runs her fingers through the girl's hair. "Look at you! You think that he's impressed? Don't be a dummy. Come with me, lovey." She started to sing, _"Beniii…"_

"NO!" Haruhi exclaims, furiously cutting off Benibara's derogatory song.

For a moment, Benibara is shocked into silence. "'No?'" she repeats slowly. "Oh. I see how it is." Now she sings again. _"Haruhi knows best, Haruhi's so mature now. Such a clever grown-up miss. Haruhi knows best. Fine, if you're so sure now… Go ahead and give him THIS!"_ And with a flourish, she pulls out the satchel and holds it in front of Haruhi's face.

Haruhi stares in confusion. "How did you…?"

"_This is why he's here, don't let him deceive you. Give it to him, watch, you'll see,"_ Benibara sings, tossing the tiara to Haruhi, who catches it almost defiantly.

"I will!"

"_Trust me, my dear," _Benibara sings, snapping her fingers,_ "that's how fast he'll leave you, I won't say I told you so. No, Haruhi knows best. So if he's such a dreamboat, go and put him to the test!"_

"Mother, wait!" Haruhi pleads.

"_If he's lying, don't come crying… Beni… knows best."_ And with that, she vanishes into the foliage, leaving Haruhi standing in stunned silence. Then she gasps in surprise when she hears Tamaki's voice behind her.

"So! Can I ask you something?" he calls, as he walks over holding a pile of firewood. "Is there any chance that I'm going to get super strength in my hand? Because I'm not gonna lie… that would be stupendous." He notices that she looks startled and dazed. "Hey… You all right?"

Haruhi quickly nudges the tiara inside its satchel beneath some tree roots. "Oh! Sorry, yes. Just lost in thought, I guess…"

Tamaki looks quizzically at her, then sits down with the firewood. "Here's the thing… Superhuman good looks, I've always had them. Born with them," he adds, posing and preening a little. Haruhi barely notices as she makes sure the satchel is concealed. "But superhuman strength… Can you imagine the possibilities of this?!"

Some distance away, Benibara and the Hitachiin twins watch the scene play out. The twins look eager to go thrash Tamaki, but Benibara stays them.

"Patience, boys. All good things… to those who wait," she says with a predatory smile.


	8. The Best Day of Your Life

A/N: I have to admit, I LOVE this chapter... I can't even express how much I love it. The interactions between Tamaki and Kyouya... I love it. So please enjoy! Reviews are loved, as always!

Disclaimer: Still don't own Ouran Host Club or Tangled

Chapter 8: The Best Day of Your Life

The sun rises over a sleeping Haruhi and Tamaki. Tamaki twitches a little as a tiny speck of grit strikes his face. Then another. At the third one, he finally opens his eyes and finds himself staring at the point of a sword. He looks up slowly and his violet eyes meet the sleet-gray ones of Kyouya Ootori.

"Hmm… wha?" Tamaki mumbles. Then he blinks, remembering the slender dark-haired youth whose pursuit of him had started this whole adventure.

Kyouya is dripping wet. His clothes cling miserably to his skin and his limp hair falls in his face. Fury is etched into his every feature. Tamaki manages one of his devastatingly charming smirks, and he rolls onto his side in an attempt to make himself more comfortable.

"Well, I hope you're here to apologize!" he says with a smirk.

Haruhi and Pascal are jolted awake by screams.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Tamaki screams as Kyouya grabs him by the ankle and tries to drag him off. "No, no, no, no, no! Put me down! Stop it! Noooooo!"

Haruhi jumps to her feet and grabs Tamaki's arms, pulling against Kyouya. "Give… him… back!" she cries out.

"Forget it!" Kyouya exclaims. "He's under arrest!" He pulls hard and one of Tamaki's boots pops off, sending them all crashing in opposite directions. Kyouya shakes himself off and jumped up, brandishing his sword and charging at Tamaki.

Haruhi springs to her feet and throws herself between Tamaki and the charging guard.

"Whoa, whoa! Wait! Just… hold on a second!" she gasps.

"Out of the way, girl!" Kyouya exclaims, trying to dodge around her. He moves to one side, then freezes, feeling slender arms wrapping around his waist. He stares down as the girl with the masses of golden hair throws herself around him, holding him back with all her strength.

"Haruhi…" Tamaki gasps.

"Please… please, just stop and listen for a moment!" she gasps.

Kyouya takes a deep breath, then another. Finally the tension begins to drain from his body and he takes a half-step away from Tamaki.

A smile appears on Haruhi's face. "That's better… Now, what's your name?"

"Kyouya Ootori, third son of the Captain of the Guards," Kyouya says, moving his sword in a salute.

"It's nice to meet you," Haruhi says with a curtsy. "I'm Haruhi. You already know Tamaki, I think."

"Indeed…" he says, light flashing off his glasses as he glares at the blonde thief.

"Well…" Haruhi begins, but Kyouya's head snaps to one side, obviously hearing something. Tamaki grabs Haruhi's arm to quiet her and jumps to his feet. They can all hear footsteps approaching and see a large shadowy figure approaching. Then a bush is pushed aside and in walks Mori, with Honey clinging to his shoulder as usual.

"Mori! Honey!" Haruhi exclaims.

"Weren't you at that disgusting tavern?" Kyouya asks with a frown.

"Weren't you with those palace guards?" Honey asks. "What are you doing to Haru-chan and Tama-chan?"

"Okay, everyone just calm down!" Haruhi exclaims. "Mori, Honey, this is Kyouya! I'm hoping he'll help us out," she says with a bright smile.

"Wait, that wasn't part of the deal!" Kyouya gasps. He tries to move away, but Haruhi grabs his arm and holds him in place.

Mori and Honey sit down near the fire. "So tell us, Haru-chan, what's going on?" Honey asks happily.

"Well… how do I explain this?" Haruhi wonders. "Okay, look, today is kinda the biggest day of my life, and the thing is… Kyouya, I need you to not arrest Tamaki right now. Just for 24 hours, and then you can chase each other to your heart's content. Okay?"

Tamaki smiles meekly and holds out his hand to Kyouya for a handshake. Kyouya stares at him disdainfully.

"And… it's… also my birthday… Just so you know," Haruhi adds, looking up at Kyouya with her giant brown eyes.

Kyouya closes his eyes for a moment and pushes his glasses further up his nose with one finger. Then he looks at Mori and Honey. "Those two are probably also criminals, but I know of no warrants for their arrest. Why can't they guide you to wherever you're going?"

"Well… Tamaki is the one that originally agreed to guide me and escort me home. I trust him and I like him. I want to finish this with him." And if Haruhi is blushing as she says this, the boys she's with are too gentlemanly to comment.

Kyouya frowns, but finally he holds out his hand and Tamaki grasps it enthusiastically, shaking it until Kyouya thinks it's going to pop out of its socket. Haruhi turns excitedly to Mori and Honey, and so she misses Kyouya's quick elbow into Tamaki's ribs, making him double over a little. A smirk flutters across the young guard's face for just a few moments.

"So what are we waiting for? Let's go to the kingdom!" Haruhi exclaims excitedly.

The small group hurries through the forest and soon ends up crossing the bridge into the city. Tamaki spots a Wanted poster of himself and he crumples it up and throws it in the river. Kyouya sees this and glares at Tamaki. Just as they seem about to start fighting, a shadow looms over both of them and Mori glares down at them. Meekly, the pair separate. Haruhi doesn't notice this as Honey has grabbed her hand and dragged her ahead, running as fast as he can and laughing, making her laugh as well.

As they enter the marketplace, Haruhi finds that her long hair is even more of a hindrance than when she was in the woods. People are stepping on it and tripping over it. Tamaki and Mori move to help her bundle all her hair up into her arms, and then Tamaki sees three little girls braiding each other's hair. He whistles to catch their attention and gestures to the mass of hair tumbling from Haruhi's head. The girls gasp in delight and race over. Haruhi kneels on the cobblestones with Tamaki standing next to her while the girls braid her hair and weave flowers into it, while Kyouya, Mori, and Honey wander about the marketplace. When they're done, Tamaki helps Haruhi to her feet.

"Ahh, thank you," Haruhi says with a sweet smile. Tamaki blushes, then pulls her around a corner as several guards pass by. Kyouya watches this scene with a raised eyebrow and Tamaki shoots him a glare.

As they hurry through the marketplace, Haruhi stops in front of a mural of the king and queen and the infant princess. She sees two small girls sitting in front of the mural and one lays a flower reverently in front of the mural. "It's for the lost princess," she tells the other girl.

Haruhi stares up at the baby princess with the short golden locks and the large brown eyes, but she doesn't recognize it as herself. She stares in silent contemplation at the mural, but then she hears a band start to play music. Tamaki turns to find that she's run off into the town square and has started dragging other townspeople into the square to dance as well. Somehow Tamaki and Haruhi's other companions get dragged in as well. There are moments where Haruhi and her new friends are in the library looking at books, eating snacks while hiding from guards, and drawing with chalk on the cobblestones. But they keep going back to dance, and soon Haruhi has danced with all her friends except for Tamaki, as they keep missing each other. The music reaches a crescendo and finally Tamaki and Haruhi are thrown into each other's arms just as the music ends. They laugh a little and pull apart, hurrying to rejoin the others.

"To the boats!" someone calls.

Tamaki finds a tiny rowboat and gallantly helps Haruhi into it.

"Aren't you guys coming?" Haruhi asks them.

"Nah, we found a nice place on shore to watch, that's where we're going," Honey says. Mori just nods his agreement.

"I have seen the floating lanterns many times from every conceivable angle since I was a young child. I have no desire to accompany you," Kyouya says coolly. "I will be waiting here though to ensure that the thief doesn't try to run away again."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Kyouya!" Tamaki says brightly, pressing a bag of cakes into his hand. Kyouya's eyebrows slide up. "Wh-hat?" Tamaki says with a huge innocent grin. "I bought them." He starts rowing away as Kyouya cautiously takes a bit of one of the cakes. "Most of them," Tamaki adds mischievously. Kyouya chokes and glares furiously after him.

"Where are we going?" Haruhi asks him as he continues rowing away.

"Well, best day of your life, remember?" Tamaki points out. "I figured you should have a decent seat."

The moon rises up above the lake as they make their way to the center of the water, staring up at the city and the castle above. Haruhi sighs as she lets her fingers trail through the water.

"You okay?" Tamaki asks.

"I'm terrified," she whispers meekly.

"Why?" he asks.

"I've been looking out a window for 18 years, dreaming about what it might feel like when those lights rise into the sky… What if it's not everything I dreamed it would be?"

"It will be," Tamaki assures her.

"And what if it is?" Haruhi asks. "What do I do then?"

"Well, that's the good part, I guess," Tamaki says, tilting his head to one side to regard her. "You get to go find a new dream."

She smiles at him at last, then they both look up to the castle.

Far away at the castle, the king and queen, Haruhi's parents, stand together on a balcony. The queen straightens her husband's pendent and then touches his cheek as a tear appears in the corner of his eye. He clasps her hand and they hold each other close for a minute. Then they walk over to a lantern sitting on a table. The king lights it and together they lift it up and let it float away into the heavens.

As that first lantern floats up into the sky, other lanterns are lit down in the little town and in the nearby valleys and from boats on the lake. One by one they are also lifted up into the air, floating away and filling the sky like hundreds of little fireflies that never have to blink.

In the middle of the lake, Haruhi has been plucking flower petals from her braid and dropping them into the water. Seeing a glimmer reflected in the water, she looks with a tiny gasp of surprise.

"_All those days watching from the windows, all those years, outside looking in, all that time, never even knowing just how blind I've been."_ She leans forward eagerly, nearly tipping the boat over as Tamaki gently catches her around the waist to pull her back. _"Now I'm here, blinking in the starlight. Now I'm here, suddenly I see. Standing here, it's oh so clear, I'm where I meant to be. And at last I see the light, and it's like the fog has lifted. And at last I see the light, and it's like the sky is new. And it's warm and real and bright, and the world has somehow shifted. All at once everything looks different, now that I see you." _

She glances to one side and sees Tamaki sitting there with an affectionate smile on his face and a pair of lanterns in his hands. She gasps in excitement and scoots close to him.

"I have something for you too," she tells him, and she holds out the satchel with the tiara inside it. "I should have given it to you before, but I was just scared… And the thing is, I'm not scared anymore. You know what I mean?"

Tamaki puts his hand on the satchel and pushes it down to the floor of the boat, staring deep into her eyes. "I'm starting to." Then he hands her a lantern and they release their lanterns together. _"All those days, chasing down a daydream… All those years, living in a blur… All that time, never truly seeing things the way they were. Now she's here, shining in the starlight. Now she's here, suddenly I know… If she's here, it's crystal clear. I'm where I'm meant to go."_

Haruhi turns toward him and he clasps her hand. And they sing together for a moment. _"And at last I see the light."_

"_And it's like the fog has lifted,"_ Tamaki sings almost in her ear. _"And at last I see the light."_

"_And it's like the sky is new,"_ Haruhi adds.

"_And it's warm and real and bright, and the world has somehow shifted. All at once, everything is different… now that I see you, now that I see you."_ They lean in close to each other and Tamaki runs his fingers through her hair, starting to pull her closer. Just when it seems they're about to kiss, Tamaki sees something out of the corner of his eye and he turns his head to get a better look.


	9. Betrayed

A/N: Oh those bad twins... I kind of love them being a little mean though... Anyways, it's a good thing I had this mostly done because I'm so drained right now... I have five fics in progress that I'm actively posting, and I'm about to post another one and trying to get the chapters out is wearing me out... But I'm getting lots of positive responses from my wonderful readers, so ultimately it's worth it!

If you happen to be reading any of my other fics, I probably won't be updating ANY of them until Sunday or Monday because I need a break. I'm sorry about that, but I really just need a few days off to clear my head. I was having some fun on Pinterest earlier looking for funny Ouran pics... That's a good way to unwind right there... Nosebleeds galore! Anyways, please enjoy this chapter, and reviews are always much appreciated!

Disclaimer: I still don't own Ouran Host Club or Tangled.

Chapter 9: Betrayed

Tamaki sees Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin watching him from shore, holding a lantern that gives off a faintly greenish glow. Tamaki's eyebrows knit together and he frowns.

Haruhi picks up on his agitation and starts looking around. "Is… everything okay?" she asks. The twins have already vanished from the shoreline, so she sees nothing.

"Huh? Oh…yes. Of course. I just…" He suddenly looks very uneasy and he glances down at the satchel.

A short time later, they arrive at the lakeshore and Tamaki climbs out.

"I'm sorry. Everything is fine. There's just… something I have to take care of," he says as he picks up the satchel.

Haruhi stares at the satchel in his hand. "…Okay."

"Don't move, princess, I'll be right back," Tamaki promises.

She wrings her hands as she watches him go. "It's all right, Pascal," she says, sounding as though she's trying to convince herself.

Tamaki finally finds Hikaru, who is whittling a stick. "Ah, there you are! I've been searching everywhere for you guys since we got separated. You look fantastic, by the way, have you been working out?" Hikaru glares and Tamaki clears his throat. "Anyway, I just wanted to say I'm really sorry about being a clumsy idiot and getting you arrested and all. I feel really bad, so here, the crown is all yours. My way of apologizing." He tosses the satchel to Hikaru and the tiara falls out. "I'll miss you guys, but I think it's for the…" He turns to walk away but finds Kaoru standing there. "…best…"

"Holding out on us again, Boss?" Kaoru asks.

"What?" he asks in confusion.

"We heard you found something," Hikaru said, standing up. "Something much more valuable than a crown."

"We want her instead," Kaoru tell him.

Tamaki's eyes widen in horror.

Haruhi has stood up in the boat and is peering into the foggy darkness, waiting for any sign of Tamaki's return. At last she sees a silhouette walking towards her.

"Ah, I was starting to think you ran off with the crown and left me," she says with a nervous giggle, trying to play her very real fear off as a joke.

The figure steps through the fog and suddenly splits into two forms, and she recognizes them from the gorge.

"Sorry, beautiful. He did," Hikaru tells her.

"What? No. He wouldn't!" Haruhi gasps.

"See for yourself," Kaoru says, gesturing to the lake.

Haruhi squints and sees a sailboat heading off into the lake and she can just make out Tamaki's white-blonde hair and his slender figure at the wheel.

"Tamaki? Tamaki!" Haruhi exclaims, unable to believe the betrayal.

"It was a fair trade," Kaoru told her.

"A crown… for the pretty girl… with the magic hair," Hikaru adds, running his fingers through it.

"How much do you think people would pay to stay young and healthy forever?" Kaoru asks.

"More money than we can imagine. And it doesn't hurt that she's easy on the eyes either. We'll have some fun playing with you," Hikaru says with a smile.

"No… no please… no!" Haruhi yelps, turning and running away. Soon she trips over a log and sprawls onto the ground, scrambling to free her dress. Then she hears some thuds and grunts, then hears Benibara's voice calling her.

"Haruhi!"

"Beni?" Haruhi whispers, scarcely able to believe her own ears.

"Oh!" Benibara gasps, dropping the large stick that she used to club the Hitachiin twins. "My precious girl!"

"Beni!" Haruhi gasps, running over and hugging her.

"Are you all right? Are you hurt?" Benibara demands.

"What… How did you…?"

"I was so worried about you, dear. So I followed you, and I saw them attack you and…" She stops speaking and shudders, holding Haruhi closer and planting a tender kiss on the trembling girl's forehead. "Oh my… Let's go, before they come to!" she exclaims, jumping to her feet and starting to walk into the woods.

Haruhi doesn't move for an instant, she just gazes out into the lake towards the sailboat and Tamaki. Then she turns back to Benibara, who spreads her arms in an obvious "Beni knows best" gesture. Haruhi bursts into tears and flies into Benibara's arms for comfort.

"You were right, Beni. You were right about everything."

Benibara sighs and strokes her hair. "I know, darling. I know." And with that, the pair steps off into the fog.

Across the lake, the boat bumps into the castle's docks with a thunk. The guards see the boat and hurry down. They find Tamaki slowly regaining consciousness.

"Look! The crown!" one of the guards cries.

"Haruhi…" Tamaki mumbles. Then he regains more of his senses. "Haruhi!"

Several guards swarm onto Tamaki and drag him out of the boat, arresting him. Meanwhile Kyouya is strolling along the lakeshore, keeping a watchful eye out for Tamaki and Haruhi and he hears the struggle.

"No, no, no! Hey, wait, guys, guys!" Tamaki shouts. "Haruhi! You don't understand, she's in danger!"

Kyouya's eyes widen. He looks around and sees Mori and Honey approaching. They also hear Tamaki's shouts, and they look at each other and race off into the darkness.

As morning dawns, Tamaki is pacing around in his prison cell when the door opens and Yoshio Ootori stands before him.

"Let's get this over with, Suoh."

"Where are we going?" Tamaki asks. The guards just stare at him and Tamaki touches his own slender throat in realization. "Oh…"

Back in the tower, Benibara is plucking the last of the flowers from Haruhi's hair and brushing it back to its usual straight golden mass.

"There. It never happened." She starts to walk away, leaving Haruhi sitting there, completely lost in her own misery. "Now, wash up. I'm making hazelnut soup," Benibara continues brightly. Seeing that Haruhi hasn't moved an inch, she sighs with a touch of exasperation. "I really did try, Haruhi. I tried to warn you what was out there. The world is dark and selfish and cruel… If it finds even the slightest ray of sunshine… it destroys it." Her voice has real venom in it, but Haruhi doesn't seem to notice.

After Benibara leaves, Haruhi continues to sit on her bed, staring down at a tiny flag with a golden sun printed on it, a little souvenir that Tamaki had given her and that she had concealed from Benibara. Pascal nuzzles her sympathetically. Haruhi sighs and flops onto her back on the bed, staring miserably at the flag, the last tangible reminder of the most wonderful birthday of her life. Then she notices something strange about the picture on her ceiling…

It has the same sun shape! The same shape that she had never seen until yesterday! Looking around, she realizes that she has subconsciously placed the sun motif all over her paintings, and now she can see them everywhere, and they seem to glow and fill her room with their light.

And suddenly she's hit with a flashback of being a baby lying in a cradle and seeing that same sun shape in a mobile about her crib and the shapes of two figures wearing crowns standing above her, and then she thinks of that mural and the story of the lost princess…

And Haruhi leaps to her feet, running to her mirror, remembering standing in front of the mirror downstairs with that tiara on her head and Haruhi is gasping and she can barely breathe. She clutches the edge of the dressing table, sweat beading on her forehead as she stares at her reflection in utter shock and horror at the realization that has just hit her.


	10. The Rescue

A/N: Wow. I had gone three days without writing a single word until I wrote this chapter today. This one was easy to write... lots of fun, I think this may be my favorite chapter with the whole Tamaki escaping thing... it's epic, that's all I'm going to say. I'm going to try to write more for my other two Ouran fics today, but honestly I probably won't update either until at least tomorrow, maybe Tuesday. The three days off were desperately needed, but now I need to get my brain to work again. One more chapter to go for this fic, and I'll finish it off by the end of the week!

Disclaimer: Don't own Ouran Host Club or Tangled

Chapter 10: The Rescue

Tamaki doesn't particularly try to resist as he's being led down the hallway. As he idly glances into each cell, he suddenly notices the Hitachiin twins in one of the cells. Quickly knocking both guards out, he springs over, grabbing the pair by their collars.

"HOW DID YOU KNOW ABOUT HER?" he demanded. "TELL ME! NOW!"

"It wasn't us!" Hikaru yelps.

"Yeah, it was the old lady!" Kaoru adds.

"Old lady…?" Tamaki muses. The guards begin to drag him away. "Wait… no! Wait! You don't understand! She's in trouble! Wait!"

The Hitachiin twins exchange glances. Then Hikaru grins wickedly and holds out a key that he snagged off the guards as they grabbed Tamaki. Kaoru shoots him an identical grin and shows that he's already picked the locks on his own shackles, and he quickly moves to help his twin.

Back at the tower, Benibara approaches the bottom stair, looking up to Haruhi's room. "Haruhi?" she calls, beginning to climb the stairs. "Haruhi, what's going on up there? Are you all right?"

Haruhi staggers to the doorway, leaning against the doorframe for support, staring at the woman she's always called her mother with new eyes. "I'm the lost princess," she gasps.

"Ugh… please speak up, Haruhi. You know how I hate the mumbling!" Benibara sighs in exasperation.

Haruhi looks up, her brown eyes positively blazing. "I am the lost princess. Aren't I?" She takes in Benibara's stunned expression. "Did I mumble, Beni? It was all lies, wasn't it? You told me that my parents died!"

It takes Benibara a minute to find her voice. "Oh, Haruhi, do you even hear yourself? Why would you ask such a ridiculous question?" She moves as though to hug Haruhi, but the girl takes a large step back.

"It was you! It was all you!" she accuses. "Everything you've ever told me was a lie!"

Benibara's eyes narrow dangerously. "Everything I did was to protect you."

Haruhi angrily shoves past her and heads down the stairs. "I've spent my entire life hiding from people who would use me for my power…"

"Haruhi…"

"…when I should have been hiding… from you!" Haruhi is clearly stricken, but also furious as the depths of the betrayal really sink in.

"Where will you go?" Benibara demands. "HE won't be there for you."

Haruhi freezes at the implicit mention of Tamaki. "What did you do to him?" she demands in realization.

"That CRIMINAL," Benibara spits out, "is to be hanged for his crimes."

"NO!" Haruhi gasps, shocked and devastated. "How could you?" she adds, understanding the situation perfectly.

"Now, now, it's all right. Listen to me. All of this… is as it should be." She steps towards Haruhi, who has fallen to her knees in horror at the idea of Tamaki's death, and moves to stroke the golden hair.

Haruhi jerks her attention back to Benibara and grabs her wrist angrily. "NO! You were wrong about the world. And you were wrong about ME. And I will NEVER let you use my hair AGAIN!"

Benibara manages to wrench her wrist free of Haruhi's grasp and she staggers backwards, crashing into a mirror, which topples and shatters all over the floor. Haruhi glares contemptuously at her and walks away. Benibara stands us, eyes blazing with cold rage.

"You want me to be the bad guy? Fine. Now I'm the bad guy."

Back at the prison, the two oldest Ootori boys are forcefully wrestling Tamaki towards a door, although he never stops struggling. Yoshio Ootori is walking ahead of them. As he approaches a door, all the other ones slam shut and he finds the door in front of him is locked. He knocks on the door angrily

"What's this? Open this door, right now!" he shouts, and the little hatch slides open, revealing the bright innocent face of Honey.

"What's the password?" he asks.

"What?" Yoshio Ootori asks. He glances back at his two older sons, still holding a struggling Tamaki in place.

"Nope," Honey says, still bright and innocent and happy.

"OPEN THIS DOOR!" demands the Captain.

"Not even close," Honey giggles.

"You have three seconds!" Yoshio exclaims. "One…" Mori calmly walks in one of the doors and knocks the oldest Ootori boy out. "Two…" Mori knocks the second Ootori boy out. "Three…?" Mori grabs the two unconscious sons of the captain and vanishes back out the door he'd come in. Yoshio turns around to see Tamaki standing there innocently alone with a clueless expression on his face. Only then does the door open and Honey hits the captain hard in the face with a frying pan, sending him flying.

Tamaki bursts out laughing. "Frying pans! Who knew, right?!"

Guards appear at the other doors and Mori joins them, and the trio makes a run for it. They are shocked to come face-to-face with the Hitachiin twins.

Tamaki jumps backwards, taking a defensive stance. "What are you guys doing here? I thought… you were locked up!"

"We've decided we want to help you out, Boss," Hikaru says. "She seemed like a nice girl, and the old lady needs to be taught a lesson."

"But just this one time," adds Kaoru. "And we still owe you a thrashing for getting us arrested and for almost getting us drowned."

"After we rescue Haruhi though, right?" Tamaki asks.

"Sure thing, Boss," the twins agree together. Then some guards appear and the twins proceed to beat the holy hell out of them.

The whole group takes off running. They reach a low wall and Mori grabs Tamaki and tosses him over it. Tamkai is surprised to find Honey already standing down there.

"Head down!" he exclaims.

"Head down," Tamaki echoes, taking the stance.

"Arms in."

"Arms in."

"Knees apart."

"Knees apa… Knees apart? Wh…why do I need to keep my knees apa…" He is cut off as the twins vault over the wall together and land on the other end of a catapult that Tamaki is standing on, sending the blonde thief flying through the air. "Waaaaaaaauuuuugggghh!" he cries, and he lands in a cart full of straw.

A hand grabs his arm and pulls him out, and Tamaki finds himself face-to-face with Kyouya. At first Tamaki can only stare at the dark-haired third son of the Captain of the Guards.

"Kyouya… you planned this?"

"Of course I planned it," Kyouya says, pushing his glasses further up onto his nose. "Who else could have put together such a perfectly flawless plan?"

"Thank you," Tamaki whispers.

"It was nothing," Kyouya tells him.

"No… really…" Tamaki whispers, putting his hand over his heart to convey incredible amounts of sincerity. "Thank you. I feel like maybe all this time, we've just been misunderstanding one another and we're really just…"

Kyouya glares at him. "I'm not doing this for you, idiot. I'm doing it for her."

"Oh… Well, I can get behind that. As long as you're helping."

They hear shouts. Kyouya gestures to a pair of horses nearby. "We should go.

"Yeah. You're right. We should go," Tamaki agrees, and they jump onto their horses and take off at a gallop. Soon they are pounding their way out of the town below the castle and clattering across the bridge, racing madly off into the woods.

They reach the tower and Tamaki hurries towards it while Kyouya hangs back. Tamaki peers up. The tower is dark and silent, and he prays desperately that Haruhi hasn't been dragged away to some unknown location by Benibara.

"Haruhi?" he calls out. Only silence answers him. "Haruhi, let down your hair!" he calls out. There's still no answer.

Tamaki decides to climb up the tower in the hope that there will be some clue to Haruhi's whereabouts. He only gets a few feet when there's a creaking noise and suddenly the golden hair flows down and Tamaki grabs it, climbing as fast as he can hand-over-hand. Finally he levers himself into the room, a relieved smile on his face.

"Haruhi, I thought I'd never see you again… What the…?" he gasps, seeing her lying on the floor, bound and gagged, eyes wide with terror.

She utters a few short agonized cries as Benibara appears behind Tamaki, a knife in her hand. She stabs him in the side of the stomach and Tamaki hits his knees as Haruhi screams around her gag.

Benibara stands over Tamaki as he falls to the floor. "Now look what you've done, Haruhi. Oh, don't worry, my dear. Our secret will die with him." She steps coldly over Tamaki's groaning form as he clutches at his injury.

Haruhi pulls desperately at her chain, trying with all her strength to get to Tamaki, but she can't move. Pascal leaps forward to try to help, but Benibara kicks him against the wall and he falls limply to the floor. Then Benibara grabs Haruhi and starts dragging her towards the hidden trapdoor.

"And as for us…" she says, but she can't speak as Haruhi is using every trick she can to keep herself from being dragged away. "Haruhi, really! Enough already! Stop…fighting…me!"

Haruhi squirms some more and manages to get the gag off her mouth. "No! I won't stop! For every minute, for the rest of my life, I will fight! I will NEVER stop trying to get away from you!" Her eyes are somewhat wild as she says this. She lets her words sink in, then continues frantically. "But… if you let me save him, I will go with you."

"No… no… Haruhi, no!" Tamaki groans. Pascal slowly opens his eyes at her declaration. Haruhi manages to ignore them.

"I'll never run. I'll never try to escape. Just let me heal him, and you and I will be together… forever. Just like you want. Everything will be the way it was. I promise. Just like you want. Just… let me… heal him," she begs.

Benibara pauses and seriously considers her options. Finally she walks over to Tamaki and chains one of his arms to a column. "In case you get any bright ideas about following us," she growls at him.

Tamaki coughs weakly, still clutching his wound. It's obvious that the wound will be fatal in just moments unless Haruhi manages to heal him. The second she is free, she flies across the room and cups his face gently in her hands.

"Ta…Tamaki!" she cries. He moans softly. She moves her hand to get a better look at the wound, and she sees that it's worse than she thought. "Oh… Oh Tamaki… I'm so sorry. Everything is going to be okay though." She grabs some of her hair and moves to press it to the wound.

Tamaki bats her hair away from him. "…No… Haruhi…"

"You'll be fine, I promise! You have to trust me! Come on, just breathe," she begs him, still trying to cover the wound.

Tamaki's eyes flutter weakly. He's obviously fading fast. "I can't… let you do this," he gasps.

Haruhi barely manages to choke back a sob. "And I can't let you die."

"But if you do…" Tamaki whispers.

"Hey, shh, shh, shh…" Haruhi murmurs, caressing his cheek.

"…then you… will die…" Tamaki hisses, his voice nearly gone.

"Hey," Haruhi whispers. "I'm gonna be all right."

He manages to smile weakly at her. She smiles back, but her eyes are filled with tears, and they both know that she is lying. Tamaki manages to run his fingers through her hair. "Haruhi… wait…"

She leans closer to him, breathing in the air he exhales. Just when it seems that they might kiss… he grabs her hair and lifts it off her neck, catching every strand in his hand… And in his hand is a long shard of glass from the broken mirror… and he uses that to slice through her hair and his hand falls limply to the ground, dropping the glass to the floor.

Haruhi gasps in horror and reaches up to touch what remains of her hair, which is now incredibly short and turning brown. "Tamaki… what…?" she whispers.

"NOOOO!" Benibara screams. Haruhi turns and both women stare as the long golden hair that practically fills the entire tower turns brown as well. Benibara scrambles to grab the hair even as it turns brown beneath her fingertips. "Oh no… no… no! What have you done?!" she screams as her hands turn wrinkly and her hair becomes white. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" she screams.

She crawls on her hands and knees to the remains of the broken mirror, and she sees many reflections of herself in the mirror, sees her incredibly old and ugly face staring back at her. She covers her face with her cloak, screaming in horror at her own appalling ugliness. The fact that her screams are now raspy and high-pitched sends her into a further burst of screaming over the loss of her beautiful voice. As she staggers about the tower in agonized horror, Pascal pulls out a length of the discarded hair and Benibara trips over it, plummeting right out the window of the tower. She is also shrinking and becoming more wrinkled the whole time. Her agonized howl dies away and she turns into a cloud of dust moments before striking the ground below.


	11. A New Dream

A/N: Well, here it is! The final chapter! I know some people were really unhappy with me about leaving on a cliffhanger, even though I did promise that I'd update by Friday at the latest... But whatever, I'm over it. Here's the last chapter, I hope everyone has enjoyed the fic, and thank you all for the support (reviews, favorites, etc.!). If I get just one review on this chapter, I'll have 30 total, and that's pretty decent for only an 11 chapter fic, at least for me.

Disclaimer: Don't own OHC or Tangled and never will... sad day.

Chapter 11: A New Dream

Haruhi kneels on the floor staring at her discarded hair and at the window that Benibara has just vanished from. Then she shakes herself, remembering Tamaki and his mortal wound. His eyes are closed, and she grabs his face in her hands.

"No, no, no, no, no, Tamaki!" she cries.

He coughs feebly and his head lolls to one side.

"I'm right here," Haruhi whispers, stroking his hair. "Don't go. Stay with me, please!" she begs him. She grabs his hand and holds it to her shorn hair, trying desperately to sing the song through her tears. _"Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine…"_ But it's no use and she knows it, so she dissolves into dry sobs.

Tamaki's eyes flutter open. "Hey..."

_"Make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine…"_ Haruhi is unable to accept that she can't save this beautiful young man lying in front of her.

"Haruhi…" Tamaki whispers. Those vibrant violet eyes are dim.

"What?" Haruhi whispers, tears gathering in her eyes.

With the very last breath he has, Tamaki gasps, "You were my new dream…"

Haruhi gasps, and her tears begin to run down her cheeks. "And you were mine," she whimpers.

Tamaki manages a smile… then his eyes close and he dies there in her arms. Haruhi gasps in disbelief, running her fingers tentatively over his chest and face.

_"Heal what has been hurt… Change the Fate's design… Save what has been lost… Bring back what once was mine... What once…was…mine."_ A tear rolls down her cheek and lands on his cheek and then she buries her face in his chest and sobs her heart out.

She is not paying attention at the tear that fell onto his cheek fades away, and then a soft golden glow appears where the tear was. It slowly spread through Tamaki's body and intensifies when it reaches the wound. Haruhi finally realizes something is happening and she lifts her head, staring at it in puzzlement. Then the glow brightens further, swirling around the pair and filling the room, creating the shape of a perfect golden flower. Then the glow fades away… and so does the blood. The wound is healed. Haruhi stares, then tentatively touches the spot, which doesn't even have a scar to show that there had been a fatal wound there.

Tamaki's eyes flutter open. "…Haruhi…?"

"Tamaki?" Haruhi whispers, scarcely daring to believe her own eyes.

Tamaki manages a weak smile and runs his fingers through her short hair. "Did I… ever tell you… that I've got a thing for brunettes?"

"Oh Tamaki!" Haruhi gasps, throwing herself into his arms. He holds her close as tears of joy stream down her face. And at last, at last they manage to kiss and they hold each other as though they'll never let go.

Sometime later, at the castle… the king and queen are sitting together in a room in the palace when a guard dashes in, looking stunned. The queen looks up, hope daring to appear on her face. The guard slowly nods. The king and queen stand and race as fast as they can through the hallways and to the balcony doors. Then they stop and compose themselves, exchanging glances. Finally they both take deep breaths and step through the doors.

On the other side of the doors stand Haruhi and Tamaki. Haruhi turns and sees her parents for the first time since she was an infant. Slowly she approaches them. Then the queen smiles, instinctively knowing her daughter. Haruhi smiles back, tears of happiness rolling down her face, and they embrace. The king joins them in the hug, and the trio sinks to their knees on the balcony, a complete family at last. Tamaki stands back awkwardly, but pleased to see Haruhi so happy. The queen sees him and extends her hand to him. Tamaki starts to take it as a handshake, but she pulls him down to join the family embrace, much to Tamaki's surprise.

The scene changes to the town square, with cheering townsfolk everywhere, celebrating the return of their princess, and Tamaki's voice can be heard over the din.

"Well… you can imagine what happened next. The kingdom rejoiced, for the lost princess had returned. The party lasted for a week, and honestly, I don't remember most of it. Dreams came true all over the place, everyone we met at the Snuggly Duckling had their dream come true that week."

Mori and Honey can be seen standing outside a dojo, leading several young people in drills. Mori is doing martial arts and Honey is teaching frying pan self-defense.

"Mori and Honey gave up their thug life and started a dojo near the palace, and they were frequent guests at the palace. Their loyalty to the princess never wavered."

The Hitachiin twins can be seen next, wearing jester's caps and capering around the town, dancing and playing pranks and making people laugh.

"Hikaru and Kaoru eventually forgave me, and they came to work in the palace as jesters as well as general errand boys. They created as much mischief as they possibly could, knowing that the princess adored them for it and they would never be punished.

Kyouya can be seen adjusting his glasses and wearing a smug little smirk as he inspects the ranks of several guards, which include his two older brothers and his father.

"As a reward for his loyalty and service, Kyouya was appointed Captain of the Guards by the king and queen. Thanks to his brilliant plans and fanatical devotion to detail, crime in the kingdom disappeared almost overnight."

Pascal can be seen being held by one of the little girls that had braided Haruhi's hair. The other two are standing there giggling and holding out fruit, which they feed him so that he changes to the color of that fruit.

"Pascal… never changed."

Pascal ate a grape to turn purple, then an orange.

"At last, Princess Haruhi was home."

The princess, her short brown hair cut more neatly than before, scoops Pascal up, smiling affectionately at the little girls.

"And she finally had a real family. She was a princess worth waiting for. Beloved by all, she led her kingdom with all the grace and wisdom that her parents did before her. And as for me… I finally stopped thieving and turned it all around."

Tamaki can be seen standing behind Haruhi with a fakely-innocent expression on his face. She glares at him, realizing that her crown is missing and that his hands are behind his back. She glares at him and makes a gesture that clearly means 'give it back, I know you have it'. He smiles ruefully and then holds the crown just out of her reach. She jumps to grab it, but misses, and glares until he puts the crown lightly back on her head, and she rewards him with a tender kiss.

"But I know what the big question is," Tamaki's voice-over continues. "Did Haruhi and I ever get married? Well, I'm pleased to tell you that after years and years of asking and asking and asking… I finally said yes."

Haruhi's exasperated voice cuts in. "Tamaki…"

The scene shows hundreds of lanterns floating up into the sky as the celebration ends.

"Alright… I asked her."

"And we're living happily ever after."

"Yes, we are."

And Tamaki and Haruhi embrace and kiss once again, surrounded by their five close friends, all of whom are smiling, rejoicing in their own triumphs and the triumphs of their boon companions. The camera pans up to the lanterns, and then Honey comes floating up, tied to some large balloons. He's holding some heart-tipped Cupid-type arrows and is giggling mischievously. Down below, Mori groans in exasperation as he tries to work out how to get his young cousin down.


End file.
